Bittersweet Love
by Reiyakusone95
Summary: Naotora's in love with Toshiie,but she causes trouble for him and he hates sixth grade,Naotora moves away,only to become a victim of bullying.When all seem lost after her mom passes away,she gets back up on her feet and doesnt tolerate bullying and gains respect from the community.Her dads friend takes them in after losing their house and guess who's dad it is?
1. Chapter 1

It was lunch time when I saw him again. His name is Toshiie Maeda and he is only the smartest and most talented guy in the school. He can do almost anything. He is perfect, but the only thing bad is he is very ignorant towards everyone but his friends and that is what makes girls swoon over him even more. So many girls are after him, including myself.

My 2 best friends, Ina Honda and Okuni Kayomi, and I were sitting down, eating our lunch, which was a slice of pizza and apple juice on a bench under an apple tree. I took a bite of my pizza and looked around. I then saw Toshiie come out of the school and went on the sidewalk and began walking. _He is such a sweet person, he wouldn't even step on the grass for shortcut._ I couldn't help but form a smile across my lips and I felt hot deep inside. I sucked in my bottom lip. I remember seeing him for the first time in preschool and now we're 6th graders. It was when I began to crush on him. My heart beat even faster than before. I was looking down, smiling to myself, when my friend Ina tapped me on the shoulders. I stopped smiling and looked at her.

"Hey, Naotora, if you like him so much, why don't you go express your feelings for him?" She told me. The thought of confessing to him scared me._ What if he doesn't like me that way? What if I accidentally fall or something in front of him?_ I began feeling nervous. I shook my head fast.

"What? There's no way I will! Besides, so many girls are after him. It's not like I have a chance with him anyways," I replied, looking down in defeat as Okuni gave me a little nudge on the shoulders.

"Oh come on, Naotora. You never know what he'll reply back. What if he does like you too? Also, it's better to confess to him now than to never tell him and regret not saying anything at all. How's he gonna know you like him when you didn't even tell him?" Okuni told me, and I knew she was right. I sighed and leaned my head on her.

"I dunno, Okuni. I'm afraid to tell him. I might stutter an all. I don't want him to think I'm an idiot," I told her. Toshiie was beginning to closen up to us as he is walking on the sidewalk still. Ina was eyeing me to go to him and I shook my head in horror and Okuni was also urging me to go to him too. I felt so nervous deep inside._ No! I'm not ready to tell him how I feel yet, I don't wanna confess to him!_ Ina and Okuni made me stand up and I was trying to not go, but they were taking me close to him. They were pulling my arms.

"No, you guys, I don't wanna do this!" I whisper loud enough for them to hear. Ina and Okuni were both smiling and snickering.

"You can thank us later, Naotora," Ina told me, as they pushed me to the sidewalk right in front of Toshiie. I got so shy of him when he stopped and turned to me. _Oh, I can't believe I'm standing in front of him! He is so hot and handsome!_ His eyes were so intriguing and gorgeous. I smiled at him and laughed a little nervously.

"Can I help you?" he asked me._ Oh my gosh, he just spoke to me! Eek, I think I'm gonna burst into fireworks._ I then snapped out of thinking because he just asked me a question. I blinked twice and looked down.

"Um, I… Um… I… Really like you, Toshiie, more than just a friend!" I managed to tell him, as everyone turned to the both of us. _I can't believe I told him! I just confessed to him! What do I do? Wait for an answer?_ I looked up at him, feeling so shy of him. He just tilted his head a bit to the right. He then formed a half smile._ He's smiling! Smiles usually mean happiness, right?_

"Naotora Ii, right?" he asked, as I nodded my head slowly._ He knows my name!_ My heart is thumping so fast I could almost hear it. He stopped smiling and looked serious. "Let me tell you a few things, Naotora. One, I don't like people who stutter, especially if they're girls." He took a step closer to me._ What? But he smiled! Could it have been fake only? _"Two, I'm not interested in the likes of you." He takes another step and makes me back up. I look down in disappointment. "Three, you won't be able to live up to my standards." He makes me back up. "Four, I can only take so much staring from you before it becomes bothersome." He backed me all the way up to a tree. Everyone was watching and it was so embarrassing. He then leveled up to me, eye to eye and leaned towards me. "And last of all, Naotora. You may be school smart, but to me, you're just a stupid weak girl blinded by a love that won't ever happen. If there's anything I hate more than people staring, its stupid girls like you." His words really broke my heart and crushed my soul. He then walked off from me, leaving everyone to stare at me. I stood there, wondering what just happened, even though I knew what happened already. My legs felt super shaky and so were my arms. I was devastated and embarrassed in front of my fellow classmen. Ina and Okuni came running to me to see if I was okay.

"Naotora…," Ina said, feeling sorry for me. I sighed and looked down. Okuni gave me a hug and so did Ina. I hugged them back.

"I guess this is why people call it a crush, when you like someone and they don't like you back. It crushes your soul. It's okay though, at least I told him. I have no regrets," I told them and we went back to the bench we were sitting on._ I guess I gotta stop liking him since he seems to hate me. It may take a while but I'm sure I can do it._ We continued eating our food normally. I was pretty sad deep inside but I won't let it get to me but it definitely scarred my love life.

A week has passed by and I don't look at him or talk about him anymore. I just focus on my family, friends, and school. I was in class and we were switching seats today. Everyone had to get out of their seat and stand in the front. We were in our core class and our teacher was Mrs. Nohime, which is a mix of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. There are about 28 students.

"Okay class, when I call your name, please come to the seat so I know you're here. Otherwise, you will be marked absent," Mrs. Nohime told us. I was with Ina and Okuni and I turned over to the door and saw Toshiie with his cousin and his friends Kiyomasa and Sakon. I still remember his words to me. I don't know if I'll ever forget them, since it cut me like a knife. I quickly turned away because I remembered he didn't like being looked at. _Why can't I get over him? I need to get a hold of myself and face reality that he hates me._ Mrs. Nohime walked to the first seat. "Zhuge Dan," Our classmate Zhuge Dan walked over and sat down on the seat. Some people say he looks like a dog because he always has such a serious face. She walked to the seat behind him. "Goemon Ishikawa," she continued going to the seat behind the previous one. "Zhu Ran, Da Ji, Ma Dai, Zhang He, Sun Wukong, Yoshimoto Imagawa, Kiyomasa Kato, Sakon Shima, Lu Lingqi, Himiko Orochi, Kaguya Watanabe, Ma Chao, Yoshitsune Minamoto," She was on the third row, second seat now. "Okuni Kayomi," Mrs. Nohime walked to the seat behind Okuni. "Naotora Li," I walked to go sit down where I needed to. I was happy I got to sit behind Okuni. "Okay, Toshiie Maeda, you're behind Naotora," _What? He's sitting behind me? This is bad! _Okuni turned over to me and I looked up at her, feeling a rush of embarrassment. Everyone knows that I was turned down by him and they all watched as he walked over, going past me. I felt pretty uneasy for a while. I heard him sit down on the chair and I looked down. Mrs. Nohime continued. "Lu Xun, Muneshige Tachibana, Zhou Yu," That was all the people in my row. She walked to the fourth row, first seat. "Zhang Bao, Ina Honda," Ina walked over to the seat next to Okuni on the right. I was glad she was sitting near me too. "Keiji Maeda,"_ Oh no, why does Toshiie's cousin have to sit next to me out of anywhere else?_ Keiji walked over to the seat and slumped down in such a lazy way. "Ginchiyo Tachibana, Zhen Ji, Guan Xing, and lastly, Sanzang Fashi. I'm glad everyone's here. Today you will be working on a worksheet individually for a while." Mrs. Nohime walked to the front and began giving the worksheet to the first person in each row, which means we have to take a sheet and give it to the person behind us. In my case, I have to give it to Toshiie. Everyone was passing out papers and Okuni gave me the papers. I took one and took a deep breath. _Okay, I'm just gonna give the papers to him, it's not like we're gonna be talking to each other anyways. Also, I won't make eye contact with him._ Before I knew it, he spoke to me.

"Can you hurry up and hand over the papers?" Toshiie said from behind. I turned around to him and we accidentally made eye contact! I quickly looked away and down at the papers in my hand. I then handed it over to him.

"I'm sorry," I told him, handing the papers to him as it poked his left eye as he covered it. I gasped and I hella wanted to laugh. It was a total accident only.

"Ow, what the hell, Naotora?" Toshiie yelled at me. Everyone turned to us.

"I am so sorry!" I told him, trying hard not to laugh. Toshiie opened his left eye slowly and it was a bit pink. I looked down, feeling bad. I looked up at him and he took the papers away from my hand. "I'm really sorry, Toshiie."

"Are you alright Toshiie?" Mrs. Nohime asked as he nodded his head. He told her that he was fine but I could tell he was hella pissed off at me. I looked down and I still felt like laughing but I was forcing myself not to laugh or smile. We all continued passing out the papers and began working on the worksheets.

The worksheet was pretty easy for me. It was just math we had to do and I'm pretty good with solving math problems. We all worked silently for about 20 minutes but I finished it in 15 minutes. _I wonder if Toshiie's finished with the worksheet. Oh man, why am I thinking about him again? I really need to get over him, he's not interested in me._ I took out a sheet of paper and began to doodle on it. I drew a few music symbols, a guitar, piano keyboards, and violin on it. I drew those because I loved music. I have always loved music my whole life and my mom helped me with music but my dad was a martial artist and he wants it to run in the family generation so I joined it too. I like to dance and sing very much too. I do it at my own will though.

I looked up at the front and noticed Mrs. Nohime looking at the class seats, thinking hard. Mrs. Nohime is very close to her students. She is like a big sister to me and I can just be completely honest with her. She knows I have an interest in Toshiie, because I told her. I think that's why she put Toshiie behind me. She turned to me and I smiled at her. I then continued to draw on the worksheet.

"Hmm… Toshiie and Keiji, can I have you 2 switch seats, please?" Mrs. Nohime asked, as I realized that Keiji was sitting next to me on the right, not to mention the fact that we always are partners with the ones to our right._ Oh shoot, he's gonna be sitting next to me, which means he is gonna be my partner for everything except when she allows us to choose! What do I do?_ Keiji and Toshiie switched seats. Toshiie sat down on the seat and put his stuff down. I could feel Keiji's giantness behind me. I could feel myself getting shy all over again. I turned to Toshiie slowly and to my surprise, he was looking at me! Startled by that, I flinched and fell down. My head bumped into Sakon's desk and it tipped over and fell on my head. I was gonna scream but the moment I did, I only got to utter a tiny scream as the desk toppled on my head and I felt like I had a concussion…

Toshiie knew that Naotora was gonna turn to him. He thought that Naotora was one girl who had a lot of nerves to still look at him after poking his eye with the worksheet paper. He decided to look at her because he knew she would flinch and fall. Toshiie thinks Naotora was a pretty girl but usually having a pretty face isn't enough to prove that they can do anything. It takes a lot to impress him and he needs a girl who can withstand him, even all the ignorance.

Toshiie waited for her to turn and she finally did. Her cheeks were very pink and she turned to him slowly. Once she saw him looking at her already, she freaked out and flinched so bad, she fell down and bumped her head on his friend Sakon's desk. It also fell on her head too. He didn't mean for that to happen though. He only thought she was gonna flinch. Toshiie thought she really was a stupid girl…

"Naotora!" I heard Ina and Okuni say in unison. I heard much laughter and someone took the desk off my head. I looked up and it was Sakon who took it off me.

"Blah all blah?" I heard Sakon saying. I looked around and I saw a bunch of stars everywhere. Ina and Okuni's face came into sight. I blinked three times before sitting up.

"Naotora, blah blah alright? Blah blah hurt?" Ina asked me. I didn't know what was going on and why I was hearing them say those words.

"Um, I don't understand you guys. I mean like I do but some words, I hear you say 'blah' and I don't know why. I think the desk hit my head too hard but overall, I'm fine," I told them. Mrs. Nohime rushed over to me. The stars stopped appearing everywhere now. I began to feel better.

"Are you okay, Naotora? You're not hurt, are you?" Mrs. Nohime asked me. I managed to smile and shake my head. I told her that I was fine and that I wasn't hurt._ Actually, I am hurt, still from the words Toshiie told me a week ago._ Ina and Okuni helped me onto my seat again.

"You sure you're okay? Do you wanna go to the nurse?" Ina asked me and I told her I didn't need to go to the nurse.

In about 5 minutes after, Mrs. Nohime told us to share what we have with our partner to the right. I slowly turned to the person to my right and it was Toshiie. I sucked in my bottom lip because I was nervous. _He must hate me so much right now._ I looked down and blinked a couple times before looking back at Toshiie. He was looking at me again! This time, I didn't flip out or anything.

"How much more time are you going to freak out? If you're done, can we hurry up and share answers?" Toshiie asked me. My eyes widened and I looked down again and swallowed hard.

"Sorry and okay," I managed to say._ What am I saying? I should no longer feel shy around him. It's not like he likes me or anything._ I then snapped out of thinking and turned to him. "So what did you get for number one?"

"Twenty four," he replied, not even looking at me. _Dang, hasn't he ever heard to make eye contact when he's speaking with someone? That is just plain rude but it doesn't matter. In this case, making eye contact will probably only make me shy of him._ He then sighed and turned to me. "I'm just gonna read out the answers to you. Follow along because I'm not gonna repeat myself." I nodded my head. It makes everything easier. He began saying his answers as I followed along. We both had the same answers.

"Alright whatever you didn't finish becomes homework. Now, partners on the right, please scoot your desk to your left partner. You two will be working on somethingt together," Mrs. Nohime said to us all. _Oh my goodness, I can't believe that he's gonna have to put his seat next to mines! Dang it, why am I being shy again? I should really just get over the fact that we won't be together anymore._ The people sitting on the right of the one and two partners scooted their desks next to the ones on the left. I heard Toshiie scoot his desk to mines. When he put his desk next to mines, I smelled his body spray and it smelled really good.

"So, Mrs. Nohime, what are we gonna do now?" Keiji asked our teacher. Mrs. Nohime told us that we were gonna have to think of an animal for our partners to act out. We had to take a piece of paper and write it down and then fold it up and exchange it with our partners._ Gee, to think that I get to choose which animal for him to act out. It'll be so funny!_ A smile formed on my face as we had to take out a sheet of paper. The left partners had to go first so the right partners had to close their eyes. I watched Toshiie close his eyes. _Wow, this is the face he makes when he sleeps. It's actually really quite sexy. Okay, so what to make him do. I should make him do something funny! Oh, I know what I will make him do!_ I laughed deep inside and wrote down what animal Toshiie would have to act out…

Toshiie continued closing his eyes and then the teacher told them to swap so now it was his turn to choose one for her. He let his eyes open and turned to Naotora. He thought she wouldn't give him something bad, because she liked him and he knows it, even before she admitted to him. He looked at her closing her eyes and her eyelashes were long and beautiful. Her hands were on her chair and she seemed very nervous. He thought to himself that he would never fall in love with her, despite her beauty. He knew what animal to make her do and wrote it down on a piece of paper before folding it up…

"Okay, now that everyone is finished, exchange papers with your partner," Mrs. Nohime told us and I opened my eyes. I turned to Toshiie and he scooted his paper over to me. I then took my paper and gave it to him too. His hand took the paper but he never looked at me. "Okay, right partners don't open your papers yet. Left partners, open the paper." I grabbed the paper and carefully opened it. I am surprised what he wrote. He wrote down my name!_ Wow, he put me to act as myself. Who knew?_ I then felt kinda bad about what I put so I decided to change his. I tapped him gently and he turned to me.

"Can I make a correction on mines?" I asked as he held the paper.

"No, you don't need a correction on yours. Besides, you already wrote something down so no need to change it," Toshiie replied to me. _He would probably be unhappy about his and I don't want him hating me more than how much he already does._

"It won't take long, I promise," I replied and tried to take the paper but he moved it. I wonder why he wasn't letting me make a change to it. "You're not gonna like what you have to do and I changed my mind so can I change it, please?" I grabbed the end of the paper and pulled it but he pulled it back to him but I didn't let go.

"I'm curious to see what you put so you can't change it," he responded and we played tug a war with the paper. Neither of us were letting go and before we knew it, the paper ripped in half and since we were pulling hard, our hands came flying towards ourselves and hit our face. My own hands hit my mouth hard and I tasted blood right away. Toshiie's hand flew and hit his own nose and it began to bleed too.

"What is going on? Oh my gosh, Toshiie, your nose is bleeding!" Mrs. Nohime said in horror and Toshiie covered his nose. I felt bad for trying to take the paper because he got hurt again for the second time because of me. I wiped my mouth and saw blood too! Mrs. Nohime saw the blood on my hands too. "Oh my gosh, Naotora! You are bleeding too. Alright, both of you need to go to the nurse office right away."

Mrs. Nohime gave Toshiie a slip for the both of us to go to the nurse's office. We both got our stuff and headed out from the classroom. At this point, I was in the middle of feeling happy and feeling scared._ He probably hates me so much right now, but I can't help but feel kinda happy I get to be with him right now. It's just the two of us walking together to the nurse's office. _All of a sudden, I bumped my head on a pole and fell down. Toshiie stopped walking and turned to me. He shook his head when he realized I bumped into the pole and fell down.

"You're such a clumsy girl. Hurry up or I'll leave you behind," Toshiie told me. I didn't want him to leave me behind because I could get in trouble by the security at our school because I don't have a pass with me. I quickly got up and ran to catch up.

"Wait, don't leave me behind!" I yelled, catching up to him but then I lost my balance because I ran too fast. He turned and I crashed into him. He moved me away from him but then I almost fell down so he grabbed my hand and pulled me forward and our bodies touched. He used his right hand and hugged my body._ Wow, this must be a dream come true! He's actually hugging my body with his strong biceps. It's almost too good to be true!_ He let go of me and fixed his shirt.

"Gosh, watch where you're going! You almost made me fall, stupid. Stay a few steps behind me," Toshiie scolded and I looked down.

"Sorry," I told him. He began walking off first and I waited 7 steps before walking. We were already close by the nurse's office when I was stopped by a security office. That was what I was afraid would happen if we weren't next to each other.

"Excuse me, ma'am, where's your pass?" he questioned. I got so scared. I saw Toshiie walking off and disappeared from view.

"Um, I don't have it. You see, I had to share a slip with a classmate and he just went off," I explained to the security. I knew he didn't believe me by the way he looked at me.

"Yeah, nice try. You need to come with me, young lady," he told me as I got so scared and didn't know what to do.

"But… I'm telling you the truth," I told him honestly. He shook his head and grabbed my arms and placed it behind me. "I'm not lying to you, I swear! And I don't even go to church."

"You have the rights to remain silent, young lady. This is for your own good in case you even think about trying to escape." He replied.

"But I'm a good person, I would never think about skipping class," I told him but he didn't believe me. He began taking me off and I wished Toshiie was here to help me out but I guess I was gonna have to deal with it on my own…

Toshiie was walking and he couldn't hear Naotora's loud footsteps anymore. He stopped and turned, expecting to see her behind him but she was nowhere in sight. He went back and checked but she still wasn't anywhere. He decided to go on ahead in the nurse's office, concluding she must have gone to the bathroom or something.

He went inside the office where Mrs. Zhu Rong worked as the nurse's office and gave him the slip. She took it and set it aside.

"Hi there, ooh, your nose is bleeding. It's okay, we'll get you cleaned up in no time," she told him cheerfully. He went to go sit down and she began cleaning his blood up. Mrs. Zhu Rong was right, she cleaned it up in no time. He was able to go back into the classroom. He wondered where Naotora was. They were supposed to leave together but she wasn't there yet. "You waiting for the bell to ring, son?" he turned to her and shook his head.

"No, I'm waiting for a classmate. She was supposed to be here with me but I think she might have gone to the bathroom. We had to share passes so I can't leave without her," he replied to her. She nodded her head, understanding.

"Oh, okay. Well, while you wait, why don't you go lay down on the bed for a while? I'm sure she'll come soon," she told him. He went on the comfy bed and layed down it. He wondered why the hell she was taking so long, not that he cared but because he wanted to go back in the class. Before he knew it, the bell rang for next period.

"Well, I'll get going since the bell already rang," Toshiie told Mrs. Zhu Rong. He went out of the office and to his next period class…

The security guard took me to the back and the office was in the front. I wondered why he was taking me there.

"Why are we over here? The office is the other side of here," I told him. He then pushed me to a dark corner where someone there grabbed me and I couldn't move. That was when more people came. A girl with blonde hair came out of a dark corner and clapped her hands.

"Bravo, Johnny. I can't believe this girl fell for it. What a stupid dummy," she told the security guard. I didn't understand. The security guard took off the outfit and I couldn't believe that he was a student too!

"She really is a stupid girl," Johnny said to everyone and they laughed at me.

"What's going on? Let me go this instant or you'll be in trouble!" I told them, as the person holding me put a stupid bag over my head and tied my hands together. "Stop it! Let me go right now! Someone, please help me!" I then felt something sharp go under my neck.

"If you don't want your mom to die, you better shut the fuck up!" the person holding me tells me. I got scared and stopped screaming. I couldn't see anything and they were taking me somewhere off campus, I could tell. They shoved me into a car and drove off somewhere.

"Where are you taking me? Please take me back, I promise I won't tell anyone about this," I said, trying to undo the rope tied on my hands. I felt a hard punch on my head as someone told me to shut up. I felt scared for my life and how they were probably going to kill me. They parked the car and took me out. I was led into what felt like a giant garage and then someone took the bag off my head. We were definitely inside a giant garage, but it had quite a few bad guys there. I saw the blonde girl again.

"You think you have a chance with Toshiie? Think again, stupid girl. He is too good for you and consider this a warning. You talk to him again, this is gonna happen to your parents," she told me and smacked my face with her bare hands and I felt the agonizing pain rush over my cheeks. She then began walking off as a big buff black guy came in front of me. He matched the name Latrell.

"Hey there, sugar momma, I like myself some Asian chicks. You ready for a ride?" he told me, backing me up to a car. He layed me down and untied my hands. Once he did, I tried to push him off me. "I love it when girls try to break free because it just turns me on so much."

"Get off me you sicko!" I screamed and the guys were laughing. I began hitting his head hard but it took no effect on him. I used my knuckles and pounded his chest really hard and it hurt my knuckles so much. He tried to kiss me but I moved away. I finally scratched his eyes hard and kneed his nuts as hard as I could.

"Ow you little slut!" he yelled, getting off me. I got back up and tried to run away but the guys there blocked the way.

"You wanna get out? I don't think so, little girl," a really hot guy said to me. Just then, someone grabs me and I kicked back at them hard and they let go. I turned around and poked his eyes and then kicked his head as he fell down. More of them came to me and I began beating them up, while getting hit too at the same time.

A guy rushed to me and I ran to him too. I high jump kicked him on the stomach and he kinda flew to another guy. As two guys approached, I grabbed their heads, conked it with each other three times, and socked their jaws. I felt a sharp pain on my back and I fell down, one leg up and the other down. I turned around and a guy was using a whip. I saw a chain up ahead so I somersaulted, got up and dashed to it as fast as I could. I grabbed it and turned back to the guy. I swung the chain at him as he swung the whip. They both got caught in the middle so I used the other end and smacked his face with it. I was doing a pretty good job beating them, and I was doing it myself.

"Damn, this is bullshit! Losing to some random girl? Hell naw! I ain't trynna have that," the leader said. He took out a gun and began shooting at me. I couldn't fight back with that so I had no choice but to run. I was dodging the bullets. I hid behind cars, tables, and chairs. Many of the guys were out cold because I took care of them. I was almost to the garage door when they began to shut it down. _Oh no, if I don't get out, I won't be able to escape and I don't know how much more fighting I can take. I need to get out fast._

I ran out of hiding and headed for the garage door. They were shooting multiple bullets at me but I barely escaped the bullets. Finally, the door got so close to closing that I had no choice but to slide. I layed down and began sliding out the garage door. While sliding, I finally got hit by the bullet on my arms and one on my back. I got two on my right arm and one on my back. Right before the garage closed completely, another bullet hit my left thigh and I felt so much pain everywhere.

"Shoot!" I told myself quietly. I was breathing hard because the pain really hurt. I saw my bag on the ground. I reached for it and grabbed my bag. I forced myself to get up and I began running off from that place. While I was running, I heard the garage open and I thought to myself that I would get caught again if I don't hurry up. I ran even faster, blood coming out from my arm, back, and leg. I ran into the woods but I could hear them closening.

"Hurry, she can't be too far ahead! Follow the blood trail!" I heard someone say. I looked behind me and saw that I was leaving blood trails. I needed to stop the blood. I took out my thin shirt, ripped a part of it off, and tied it to my thigh where I got shot at and made it tight. It hurt so much when I did it. I ripped off another piece of the shirt and tied it tightly on my arm where I was wounded. I began running off really fast but this time, I didn't leave a blood trail. I couldn't believe I almost died today too._ Who was that girl and who were those people?_

I began to feel lightheaded and my vision was beginning to blur but I kept running. I concentrated hard and somehow I managed to get back to the area I recognized. I checked the time and it was already four in the afternoon._ Was I really there for that long? Everything happened so fast, I couldn't keep up with time. It's already afterschool. Maybe I should just go home and take a nap after doing my homework._ I began walking home and on the way, I saw a car that looked like Toshiie's mom's car driving. It went past me and it suddenly parked. I saw that there was a woman and a guy in the passenger seats. The guy's hair looks exactly like Toshiie's too._ Could it be him? Maybe he is gonna confront me about not showing up at the nurse's office? I'm in bad shape right now and I can't let him see me like this._ The car door opened and out popped Toshiie but his back was facing me. My eyes widened and I knew I couldn't be seen. I saw that we were on a bridge like road but there was cement on the bottom for people to cross through. I didn't have any other choice but to jump down, despite my wounds. I fell down and landed on my left leg, pressuring the wound to the max. It hurt a whole lot and I almost cried but I forced myself up and ran to the little tunnel to hide…

Toshiie's mom was driving Toshiie to the mall when he spotted a girl walking up ahead. She looked like Naotora and he remembers that outfit. He was pissed off at her because her two friends came up to him, accusing him of doing something to her because Naotora went missing and they couldn't get in contact with her. They yelled at him too. He wanted to confront her why she made it seem like he kidnapped her or something.

"Hey mom, can you stop the car for a second? I need to talk to someone really quick," Toshiie told his mom. She parked the car and turned to him.

"Who do you need to talk to?" she asked.

"Just someone, you don't know her," he replied and got out of the car. He closed it and turned around but there was no one! He made a confused face, wondering if he imagined it only. He peeked at the area where people pass through but saw no one. He shook his head and got back in the car. "Never mind, that person isn't there anymore."

"Oh, well okay then," she said and began driving off to the mall…

I was relieved when I heard him get back in the car and it drove off. _Whew, that was a close call but damn, this pain is gonna kill me! My parents are gonna freak out and I'm afraid of hospitals, not to mention my parents don't have much money. Oh well, at least I had a good life while it lasted._ I walked all the way home and cleaned my wounds by showering. I was too scared to take out the bullets so I just put a band around it tightly. I had a hard time doing my back but I managed to pull it off. I did my homework and I felt really dizzy. I forced myself to finish it first before knocking out.

My alarm rang and I opened my eyes, only to feel dizzy. The pain from yesterday felt like nothing compared to the pain I felt today. I could barely even stand up.

"Oh man, what do I do?" I told myself, walking carefully into the bathroom. I checked the time and I had an hour left before school begun. I quickly used the bathroom and saw that blood leaked through the bandage. I fixed it up again and headed out. My knuckles were all bruised and had dried blood on them. I didn't even notice that they had been bleeding. When I looked at myself on the mirror, I had a bruise on my forehead, my right cheek, and my left jaw. I washed my hands and went out of the bathroom. I put on a sweater and wore a pair of skinny jeans with a Nike's shoe. I was gonna wear a backpack but it hurt too much to try and put it on so I just wore one side of the backpack. I then began walking to school.

When I got to school, I was so tired already. I felt sleepy but I was afraid to sleep because I might not wake up anymore and I didn't want that. I saw my friends up ahead so I began walking to them. Along the way, Toshiie came up to me._ Oh my gosh, why does he have to come now? I feel like I'm gonna faint already so he came at a bad time._

"Naotora, why the hell did you make it seem like I kidnapped you or something? Do you think this is funny? Where did you go yesterday, huh? You better go confirm it to your friends that I didn't do anything to you," Toshiie yelled at me. Ina and Okuni heard us and came running over.

"What the hell is going on? Don't yell at her, you selfless guy! How can you be so cruel to her? She has a heart with emotions too, you know!" Ina yelled back. I couldn't help but form tears in my eyes and it began dripping down my cheeks. I looked down.

"So? It's because of you guys I'm yelling at her! You guys are all accusing me of kidnapping her or something when I didn't," Toshiie replied. They continued arguing but then they stopped when they heard me sniff and wipe my tears away.

"Naotora, who cares about him? He doesn't deserve seeing your tears. Don't cry, okay?" Okuni told me. Honestly, I wasn't crying because of Toshiie. I wiped my tears away and laughed a bit and sniffed.

"I'm not crying because of him. I'm just crying because I'm afraid I'm not gonna see you guys anymore. I'm feeling sleepy but I don't wanna sleep because I'm afraid I won't wake up anymore," I began, feeling like I was gonna pass out. Ina looked down and saw how my knuckles were bruised. She gasped.

"Oh my god, Naotora, what happened to your knuckles? They're all bruised!" Ina shouted, getting worried about me. I finally couldn't take the pain anymore.

"Guys, I think I'm gonna…" I began when I felt a sharp pain rush through my body and everything blacked out on me…

Toshiie thought she was talking nonsense but then all of a sudden, she fell forward onto him and knocked out cold. He caught her before she fell to the cement.

"Naotora!" her friends Ina and Okuni shouted. He layed her on the ground. Her hood came off and light shone on her. They saw how she was bruised on her face too. He wondered where she went exactly.

"Did you do this to her?" Ina asked him angrily. He had no idea what the hell she was talking about. He couldn't have done it because the last time he saw her, she was walking with him to the nurse's office.

"No I didn't! I don't hit girls, just so you know and the last time I saw her, she was going to the nurse's office with me but then she disappeared and I thought she went to the bathroom," Toshiie explained to her.

"He's got a point there, Ina," Okuni replied, as they all saw blood leaking through her jeans from her thigh area. Toshiie wondered what was going on because he never expected something like that from her.

"What the heck is going on?" he managed to say and her two friends began freaking out like crazy.

"Oh my god, she's bleeding! Toshiie, take her to the nurse's office right now! We need to get her to the hospital!" Ina shouted, tugging on his shirt. He didn't understand why all of a sudden he's the one who's gonna have to carry her.

"Why me?" he bragged. They told him he is right there and because he can carry her more than them. He shook his head but he knew it was true. He picked up Naotora like a princess and they took her to the nurse's office.

Mrs. Zhu Rong turned to them and saw Toshiie carrying Naotora. Blood leaked through her thigh area of her jean. She quickly got up and told them to put her on the bed. Toshiie obeyed and put her on the bed. When he did, there was blood on his shirt too. He noticed there was blood through her arm of the sweater too.

"Is her arm bleeding too?" he asked, as the girls carefully took off her sweater and she was in her teen top. She had a bandage wrapped around her arm but the blood went through it. Mrs. Zhu Rong took it off and noticed it were 2 bullet holes there.

"Did someone shoot her?" Mrs. Zhu Rong asked them. They told her they didn't know. She explained to them it appeared that someone shot her arm. She called the ambulance and they came and took her away.

"I… I can't believe this is happening," Ina said, watching the ambulance take off their friend Naotora to the hospital. Tears formed in her eyes and she began crying. "Who could have done this? She doesn't deserve it!" Okuni tried to be calm and comfort her friend Ina but she couldn't help herself either.

"Oh, why her? I can't stand it when the ones I love are hurt," Okuni said, tears falling down from her eyes. She and Ina hugged each other as Toshiie watched them cry. He doesn't know why but he felt sorry for them. They have always gone to the same school and he knows that they are the best of friends. If it were one of his friends, he would have been the same. He turned around and began walking to his friends but Ina stopped him. He turned back to her. Her eyes were teary and enraged.

"If I find out it's you behind this, I swear I'll make you pay, this I promise you," she told him. Toshiie could tell she was dead serious about it he had nothing to worry about because it wasn't even him the one who did that to her, nor would he ever think about laying his hands on a girl.

"Go ahead, I really didn't do anything," Toshiie replied to her and she let go of him. He began walking off to his friends while Ina and Okuni were so sad…

I thought I had died but I woke up, being in the hospital. It was morning time and I saw Ina and Okuni looking out the window. I was so happy I get to live and see another day. I saw that I had bandages on my arm and legs and I can feel one on my back too. I sat up in bed and felt a bit of pain but it wasn't as painful anymore.

"Hey, you guys," I told them as they both gasped and turned to me. They rushed over and gave me a hug.

"Naotora!" they said in unison, hugging me. I hugged them back. They both began crying.

"We thought you weren't gonna wake up anymore!" Ina told me. I laughed a bit.

"Chill out, it's only been the next day since I passed out, right? It's not like I was out cold for a whole week… Right?" I asked them and they looked at each other. They shook their heads._ Oh dang, I wonder how long I've been out._

"Naotora, you have been out for two weeks, and you never woke up once and we came here for the whole two weeks," Okuni explained to me._ Two weeks? Goodness, that is long! It only felt like the next day since I passed out!_

"Wow, really?" I asked and they nodded their heads, "Well, at least I'm awake now. No need to worry anymore. I'm sorry I worried you two. It won't happen again."

"What happened that day? Did Toshiie do this to you? Because if he did, you can tell me and I'll really make sure he pays for what he did to you," Ina told me._ What? Did they think Toshiie did this to me? I'd better clear it up for them so they don't think it was him._ I shook my head.

"No, he really didn't," I replied. I told them about what happened that day when they kidnapped me and how I fought for my life there and barely escaping. They couldn't believe someone would do that to me.

"Whoever did this to you, I hope karma gets them twice as hard," Ina said madly. They stayed with me for a while and there was a knock on the door. We turned to the door. "Come in." The door opened and to my surprise, it was Toshiie! My heart raced fast and I began to grow hot on the inside. _Toshiie? Why is he here? I can't believe that he is actually here!_ _Did Ina and Okuni tell him to come? _Ina and Okuni seemed surprised too so I don't think they told him to come._ Okay, never mind they didn't tell him to come. Did he come because he cares or because he felt sympathy for me?_

"Um, I'm pretty sure you're hungry, Naotora. Me and Ina will go get you some food, okay?" Okuni told me, taking Ina's arm and they began going out the door. _Just me and Toshiie alone in the room? I don't want them to leave and I'm not hungry either._

"But I'm not even…," I began as they left the room and closed it. It was just me and Toshiie in the room alone. I took a deep breath before speaking. "So, what brings you here? Let me guess, sympathy?" Toshiie came closer to me. I was getting nervous by the second.

"Well you can think that if you want. So tell me, what exactly did happen to you?" Toshiie asked me. I thought about it and I remembered the girl telling me that if I talked to him again, my family was gonna get hurt and I didn't want them being in any kind of danger because of me. I looked down._ I shouldn't even be talking to him. It's not worth putting my family in danger. Even though I can't stop liking him, I'm just gonna have to force myself to._

"Why does it matter? It's not like you care or anything, right? You know, I've decided to give up on something," I told him and he got curious.

"And what's that?" he replied, listening to what I had to say.

"I've decided to give up liking you. You are right, I'm blinded by a love that'll never happen. It's time for me to face reality and accept that fact," I told him and he half smiled._ Why is he half smiling? Maybe he's happy I'm gonna stop liking him. Yeah, that has to be it._

"Is that right? So I don't have to worry about you being a pain anymore?" Toshiie replied, seeming happy about it. It kinda hurt, seeing that he seemed happy about it. I tried to be strong, acting like it didn't hurt. I nod my head.

"That's right, you don't have to worry about me anymore, not that you ever were but I won't look at you anymore, I won't feel shy around you anymore, it will be like I don't know you anymore. I won't be bothersome around you anymore," I told him and I made myself believe that was what I was going to do. It really hurt my chest saying those words to him. I was pretty sure he didn't care about me saying that to him but it hurts me saying it directly to him.

"So you're gonna try to not like me anymore?" he questioned and I nodded my head strongly. He then came close to me, too close that it made me feel uncomfortable now. He began leaning down on me, making me begin to lie down on the bed.

"Um, what are you doing?" I managed to say. He kept coming close to me like he was gonna kiss me or something!_ What the heck is going on? Is he going to kiss me? What should I do?_ I blinked twice and my heart began racing super fast. My heartbeat was so loud that we can both hear it now. I was feeling super hot on the inside and I bet my cheeks were so pink. Our lips were on the verge of touching. I could feel his breathing and I didn't know what to do…

Toshiie's and Naotora's lips were so close to coming in contact and he can hear her heart beat really loud and fast. Her cheeks were very pink and she looked so vulnerable. It was actually only a test to see how she reacted towards him. If she turns away, she really doesn't care anymore. If she didn't, it meant that she was just saying that but didn't mean it. Their lips were about to touch and she seemed so frightened. He then half smiled and got back up, watching her reaction…

I was feeling so uneasy when he finally stopped. I was just blinking in shock. Toshiie totally teased me!

"Not gonna like me anymore, huh? Eight years of crushing on me, Naotora. It's gonna take longer than two weeks to stop liking me," Toshiie told me. I knew he was right but I'm gonna have to stop liking him.

"Hey, I said I was gonna stop liking you, meaning I am working on it. I haven't completely stopped yet," I told him and then I remembered something. _ What am I doing talking to him? I shouldn't be. _I sighed and layed down on the bed. "I shouldn't be talking to you. I don't want my family in danger." I didn't mean to say it out loud but I said it._ Oh no, what have I done? I didn't mean to blur it out!_ I closed my eyes tight, thinking to myself how much of an idiot I am accidentally spilling it out in front of him. He stopped half smiling and had a serious face.

"Danger? What kind of danger?" he asked and I stood quiet. I opened my eyes slowly and turned to him. I guess there really was no point of holding back. I might as well just tell him what really happened.

"Well, when we were going to the nurse's office, I was stopped by a security guard and he took me to the back where I got kidnapped to this garage place with bad guys. I fought them off and escaped them but I was shot during the process," I told him. He seemed confused.

"What does that have to do with me?" Toshiie asked, wondering. I sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"A blonde girl had them do it. She told me to not talk to you anymore or she'll hurt my parents," I told him, getting scared and I began wondering why my parents weren't there. _ Oh no, what if she is having bad guys beat them up right now? I have to go help them!_ "Oh no, what if they are beating my parents up right now? I'm not gonna be there to protect them! I have to go help them!" I got up and my leg hurt. I wasn't fully healed yet.

"Don't get up Naotora, I'm sure they're fine," Toshiie assured me. I began freaking out and tears came down my cheeks. I was really worried about them now and I needed to see for myself. I began walking but on my third step, I fell down and Toshiie came to me. He helped me up.

"I need to see for myself," I told him as he carried me up like a princess and put me back on the bed. I got back up and he tried to make me lay down. "Stop! I need to go make sure they're okay!" I saw the needle thing on my hands and I pulled them off.

"Stop! You're not fully healed yet!" he yelled at me. I really didn't care what condition I was in right now. What was more important than my condition was making sure my parents were safe. I was struggling to get out of bed while Toshiie was stopping me…

Naotora was serious about leaving the hospital even though she wasn't healed yet. He thought she can be so stubborn and he didn't want her to leave, only because she wasn't healed yet. He was trying to stop her from leaving and she was really strong for a girl so he had to use more force than usual.

"Stop being so stubborn! You're not well enough to leave yet!" he told her but she paid no attention. She continued telling him to let her go. It was getting him angry because she wasn't listening.

"Let me go, Toshiie! I don't care about my well being! I only care that my parents are safe right now!" she told him. Tears were coming out from her eyes. He paid no attention and held her down. She was breathing hard and she finally stopped fighting him after three minutes of trying to break free. He thought she finally gave up. "You're hurting my arm." He looked at her arm and noticed he held it too tight that it began to bleed again.

"I'm sorry," he told her. Before he knew it, she got out of the bed and ran to the window, which scared him because he knew she was gonna jump down and they were five stories high. She might not make it because she was still injured. "Naotora, no!" It was too late. She jumped out the window and he rushed to it. He looked down and saw her on the ground. She landed on her injured leg. "God damn it, Naotora!" He ran to the door and opened it. There stood Ina and Okuni.

"What's going on?" Ina asked him when she saw that Naotora wasn't in the room anymore. She then made an angry face at him. "What did you do to Naotora?"

"Nothing, she jumped down the window. She thinks her parents are in danger," he told them and them both gasped. Ina and Okuni wanted to go with him to get her. They put the food down and went out of the hospital. When they reached outside, she was nowhere in sight.

"I'll go check her house," Okuni suggested. Toshiie called up his friends to help search for her because she ran away from the hospital when she was still healing. They split up and began searching for her…

_Please be home, please be home!_ I was running to my house barefoot. I crossed many streets and turned from right to left. My leg was in so much pain. I had a piece of glass inside my thigh and it hurts so much. I kept running until I finally reached the house. The door was wide open and I went inside. A couch was flipped upside down.

"Mom? Dad?" I called out. I searched everywhere for them but they weren't there so I knew someone must have taken them. I quickly went into my room and switched my outfit into a regular purple t shirt. I sat on my bed and took a few deep breaths, getting ready to take out the glass. I then began pulling out the glass. The pain was vibrating all over my thigh and it was hurting a lot.

"Oh my god!" I yelled out loud and tears came out from my eyes. I continued pulling out the glass and I was yelling. I finally took out the entire piece and I was bleeding so much from my thighs. I quickly put on a pair of skinny jeans and an air Jordan's shoe. I used one of my belts and wrapped my leg wound tightly so stop the bleeding. I then ran out of the house and began heading to the garage place, since I remembered how to get there.

Once I reached there, the garage was closed and I can hear someone getting beat. It was my dad's voice. I ran over to it and I began banging on the garage as hard as I can. I was very enraged.

"Looks like she did come. You wanna get in little girl? You gotta find a way. There's not much time too," someone from inside told me. I kept banging it.

"No, Naotora, don't come in!" shouted my dad from inside and I heard a loud smack.

"Dad, no! you'll pay for this, I swear!" I shouted. I looked around for something to use to break it open. I found an axe and I began pounding the garage door with all my might using the axe._ Please be okay._ I finally broke a whole and came inside. Once I did, I began getting beat up. I saw my parents on the floor. My mom was knocked out cold and my dad's head was bleeding so much. My anger overcame me and I suddenly began beating them up.

I punched and kicked the guys. I high jump kicked a guy and he fell down. Many guys swung at me and I dodged them all and smacked them as hard as I could. They used weapons on me but I used my bare hands. Even though it hurt a lot, I continued to hit them with my knuckles and they were bleeding so much…

Toshiie, Ina, Okuni, Keiji, Kiyomasa, and Sakon met up again. They were panting a lot from running all around town. They were tired of running.

"So, any news of Naotora?" Ina asked and they shook their heads. They already tried asking people and were out of ideas. They were worried about her.

"She definitely went to her house from the hospital. From the looks of her house, something definitely doesn't seem right. Maybe her parents really are in danger. We have to go help her!" Okuni said, being so worried.

"Yeah, but how are we gonna find her? She can be anywhere by now," Keiji replied. They all thought about it for a while.

"She did say that she was taken into a garage, right? We can go check the garages," Ina suggested and they thought it was a great idea, but Sakon thought things more through than her.

"But there are too many garages to search for. It's probably not garages with houses. It's probably a place where bad guys always chill at," Sakon told them and they thought it was true. It couldn't have been a regular garage because it would make things too easy. They thought about where a garage could be at.

"Man, this is too hard to figure out! If only there was someone nearby who knows about what's going on too," Kiyomasa said in defeat, as they really did hear someone from close by speaking of it. It was two guys talking about it.

"Yeah, that Naotora girl or whatever they said her name was really did show up. She's willing to come and help her parents out. That's sweet but such a tragedy because in the end, they'll all be burned alive. She was pretty too but we have orders from that chick. Serves her right for jacking her man," one of the guys said, as they all looked at each other, worried about Naotora.

"She probably has no idea what's coming for her. She really is a stupid girl. Too bad I couldn't get in her panties first," the other guy said and they both laughed. Ina was so angry and Okuni too. How can any human being be so cruel? Ina began walking to them both and stopped them from walking.

"You better tell me where Naotora and her parents are right now!" Ina yelled meanly, giving them lots of attitude. They looked at her and laughed their butts off. She got even madder because they were laughing at her.

"Aww, look at you. So cute and pretty, you trynna hook up babe?" the first guy said, smiling. She gave out a meaner look. She wondered why the guys weren't helping her. She turned to them with a mad face.

"Help a girl out? We're wasting time," Ina said to them and they went to her.

"Answer the girl and no one has to get hurt," Sakon told them and they tried to hit him but Keiji blocked them. They were only up to Keiji's chest.

"Listen up, you either do this the easy way or the hard way," Keiji told them hella mean and they got scared.

"What's the hard way?" the second guys asked, as Keiji grabbed his shirt, twisted it in his hands, lifted him off the ground, and got ready to punch them. He got so scared. "Okay, okay, we'll tell you! Just please don't hit my head!" Keiji smiled. The guy gulped down his spit before speaking. "I'm gonna get busted for telling you though." Keiji made the "tsk!" sound and he got scared again. "They're at the garage by the woods by the circle road."

"You two better take us there right now!" Keiji thundered, as the two guys had no choice but to take them there. They began walking and Kiyomasa stopped them.

"Give me your phones," Kiyomasa commanded as they obeyed. Sakon checked them to see it they had anything else but they didn't. They got in three taxis as it drove them to the garage place…

I could feel myself running out of energy but I couldn't stop fighting them. Then from behind, someone smacks my back really hard with a metal baseball bat and I fell down. The guy swung it at me again but I caught it and I didn't let go of it. He was trying to make me let go but he couldn't so he kicked my head and I finally let go of it. He began beating me up with the bat. I looked at my parents. They were completely vulnerable. _ Mom, dad, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I really tried but I failed. _Before the guy was gonna swing at me again, I swung my leg up in the air as hard as I could and it smacked the guys eye really hard and he dropped the bat.

"Ow, you fucken bitch!" he yelled. I seriously felt like I couldn't fight anymore. I forced myself to get up, feeling very weak. My mouth was bleeding so much and so was my nose. The kick from that guy on my head made my skin bleed too. I wiped away the blood from my nose. It hurt my knuckle when I did so. I was breathing hard too. I took down a lot of them but there were about 5 more of them. The ones I took down got out of the garage too. One of them had a pocket knife and he ran to me. He swung it at me and I dodged. He slit my cheek and kicked me as I fell down. I got back up and he came to me again. I dodged his knife once more and I kicked his hands and he dropped the knife. He was about to pick up the knife again, but I kicked the knife away and karate chopped his head and it rolled a hundred eighty degrees before he fell down. Two guys dashed at me from opposite directions and I waited for them to get close before moving aside and they crashed their heads like angry bulls and they became too dizzy to fight. One of the two guys remaining grabbed a chain and tried to slap me with it but I moved in time. He swung it to me again and I held on to it and twisted it around my hand many times. Then I pulled it as hard as I could and he came running to me. When he came close, I sucker punched his face with my hand that had the chain on it. He fell down and he ran out of the garage. Now it was only me and the leader again.

"Bravo, little girl. For someone your size, you sure are mighty. We can use someone like you on our team. Together, we will be unstoppable. What do you say?" the leader asked me and I was so mad at him for asking such question.

"You can rot in hell," I told him and he laughed. I posed to fight him. "I'll take you on, just like I took on all your members!" He shook his head and laughed even more at me.

"Pathetic girl, you were so busy fighting that you didn't even notice my people setting up a trap everywhere. I will give you one more chance. Come with me, and I will spare your life," he told me. From the top, a rope came down and he held on to it. He put his hand out for me to take._ I can't believe this guy would think I would leave my parents behind and join him. They are nothing but bad people._

"Slap yourself for thinking I would join your stupid gang. I would never leave the ones I love behind," I told him and then he shook his head.

"Foolish girl, well then you can stay here and wither away with your parents for all I care. Take me up," he said and they began pulling him up. I grabbed the metal bat and threw it at him as hard as I could. It hit him but it didn't take any affect on him. He laughed at me and got out of the garage. Pieces of flat metal came down and I realized he had those on him._ No wonder he didn't seem to get hurt._

Pretty soon, I began to smell a fire burning up from the outside. I turned and there was a fire out there._ Oh no, what to do?_ The garage door suddenly fell ablaze and smoke began filling the garage. I began coughing a lot. I rushed over to my parents and shook them.

"Mom, dad! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" I yelled, shaking them many times. They didn't hear me because they were knocked out. The fire was getting bigger by the moment and there was no escape for us. I noticed the back hasn't been burned yet. I ran and grabbed the axe I used to get inside and went to the back. I began to try and break through the walls, while I could barely breathe because of the smoke…

When Toshiie and the others were in the taxis, they can see a black mushroom cloud fill the air. It had to be from the garage where the two guys said they were at. They needed to get there fast to rescue Naotora and her parents. Ina and Okuni were so worried.

"My friend's in that fire! Speed it up!" Ina shouted to the driver and he did. They got there in no time and got out of the car. Ina ran close by the fire. "Naotora! Can you hear me?" Sakon pulled her away from the fire. "Let go of me, Sakon. My friend's in there! I need to rescue her!" Ina began crying when Sakon wouldn't let her go.

"The fire's too high, Ina. You're gonna get burned!" Sakon yelled at her. Ina was crying her eyes out and tried to make Sakon let go again.

"Naotora's **IN** the fire! I need to help her!" Ina yelled back. Okuni ran to the fire but Keiji pulled her away. Okuni bit his finger and he let go.

"Ow, Okuni!" he shouted, grabbing her again. She was bawling out her eyes as well. She was really trying to escape his grip but he put her on his shoulders as she couldn't do anything anymore.

"Let me go, Keiji! Naotora's in the fire! I'm not gonna forgive you if you don't let me go!" Okuni shouted, biting his back and it hella freaking hurt. He quickly moved.

"Stop biting me, Okuni! I'm doing this for your own good!" Keiji said, putting her down and holding her hands tightly. She cried and cried and finally fell to the floor. Toshiie and Kiyomasa were trying to figure out a way to get inside but there was no way. The flames got more aggressive and forced them both to go back to them.

"I don't know if we can help them in time," Kiyomasa said, as the two girls began trying to break free like crazy. Ina tried so hard to make Sakon let go but she couldn't and she began screaming and crying. The same thing happened to Okuni too. Toshiie couldn't believe that this was actually happening. Three weeks ago, Naotora confessed her feeling to him and he turned her down hella bad and embarrassed her. He felt a sense of guilt towards that. He wished he could have apologized to her earlier. The guys all felt so sorry for them and prayed a miracle would happen…

I hit the wall once more and fell down, too weak to hit it. I crawled over to my parents and began crying._ I can't believe I'm gonna die. I'm actually not living to see another day anymore. I just wished I could have lived longer and told my friends how much I loved them._

"I'm sorry I failed you guys," I told my parents even though I knew they weren't gonna hear me. My tears dropped on their faces. "I love you guys so much." Before I knew it, I heard voices. It sounded just like Ina and Okuni. I turned to the garage door. I forced myself up and walked close to it. I can definitely hear my name. I can hear crying too._ Ina? Okuni? Why are they here? How did they know? _I coughed a few times. _What am I saying? There's still hope! As long as I'm still alive, I'll fight for our lives. I must try and break the garage door open._ I knew it was gonna burn me but I backed up. Then, I ran and high jump kicked the garage door hard and it moved a bit._ It's working! I'm gonna get us out of here!_ My legs got burned a bit but I didn't care. I backed up again, getting ready to charge once again…

Everyone was feeling like Naotora them weren't gonna make it when all of a sudden, the garage door banged once, making the garage door move. They couldn't believe it! A miracle was actually happening! Ina and Okuni gasped.

"Naotora!" they both yelled, as the garage door got banged once again. Sakon turned to them, seeming suspicious.

"What if it's an explosion coming?" Sakon said, as they all backed a few inches away from the garage door. Toshiie thought it couldn't be because the explosion would just explode and it already banged twice.

"That can't be, an explosion would just explode, it wouldn't bang more than once," Toshiie replied and they agreed. The bang happened again and they could tell the garage door was getting loose. "It'll break if it's banged once more. Move to an area where you won't get hit with the garage door." They all moved over to the side and waited for the final bang to happen. The door banged once more and the garage door flew out of place…

I banged on the garage door one last time and I broke off and flew. I fell to the floor and coughed so much. I saw Okuni, Ina, Toshiie, Kiyomasa, Keiji, and Sakon. _Did they come rescue me?_ I forced myself to get up.

"Naotora!" Ina and Okuni said to me. I smiled weakly and waved to them. I went to my parents and tried to help them up but I was too weak.

"Can you guys please help me take my parents out of here?" I asked, as Keiji and Kiyomasa took them out of the garage. Sakon and Okuni were already out waiting for us. Keiji and Kiyomasa got my parents out. Next up was Ina. I was in front of Toshiie and he was gonna be the last to leave. I got out of the garage and Toshiie was walking out when the garage began to topple to the floor. I saw that Toshiie was gonna be trapped inside.

"Toshiie, look out!" I yelled and he looked up. The building was falling down to him. I ran back in, turned around, and the building fell down.

"Naotora! Toshiie!" I heard them yell before everything fell down. I was on top of Toshiie. My back was on Toshiie's body. The piece that fell on me had a piece of glass and it stabbed my leg again deeply. I yelled out in pain and began breathing hard…

Toshiie couldn't believe that Naotora saved him from getting injured. She yelled out in pain and he knew that something struck her hard.

"Naotora! Are you alright?" he asked, being worried. She was breathing so hard and tears were falling down. He tried to move but she yelled out in pain even more so he stopped.

"Don't move! It hurts a lot! I can't take the pain!" she told him. He wasn't sure of what to do at that moment because if he moved, it's gonna hurt her. He thought she was such a fool, coming in just to save him. It really made him have second thoughts about her. He has never met anyone who would save him, even though he's been mean the entire time. Naotora was definitely not an ordinary girl. He began thinking of what he should do…

The pain was too overwhelming for me. I begun feeling light headed again._ Alright, even though it hurts, I'm gonna pull this out of my thigh._ _It's the only way we'll be able to get out. _I took a very deep breath.

"I'm gonna have to take this out of my leg so we can get out," I told him, putting my hand on the glass and he put his hands over mines.

"No, don't take it out, we'll wait until the ambulance arrives," Toshiie told me. I shook my head and smiled weakly.

"No, it's okay. I'm feeling lightheaded too. I don't know if I'll make it out alive, but I have to make sure you get out safely," I told him and made him let go of my hand. I then began pulling it out as fast as I could. It felt like hell taking out the glass and I began yelling out in pain again while taking out the piece of glass…

It was really painful to see Naotora take out the glass. He didn't want her to feel any more pain. He wondered how she did it. Despite her injuries, she is still taking out the glass. He doesn't know if he could even do that. He couldn't take hearing her in pain.

"Naotora, stop, don't pull it anymore!" he told her but she pulled it even more. He felt her leg vibrate internally because of the pain and tears were coming out and she was breathing hard. "Don't pull, we'll just wait for the ambulance." She shook her head and pulled it up fast and the piece of glass came out. She then pushed the pieces of the garage away and rolled off him. He could tell she was really tired by the way she was breathing.

"I'm really tired… I think I'll take a nap…," Naotora told him. Toshiie was able to sit up but he couldn't get up. The triangle part of the roof was over them and the other pieces buried them. He turned her to him, worried she might not make it out alive.

"No, Naotora, don't go to sleep. Stay up with me!" he told her and she opened her eyes. She told him that she will try. "You seriously better not sleep, you hear me?" Her thighs were bleeding out badly.

"Hey, if I die, can you please tell Ina and Okuni they are my best friends forever? And tell my parents I love them so much?" she asked him, beginning to cry softly in such a sad way. He felt like he could cry too.

"No, listen, you are gonna make it. No one is gonna die today. Tell me why you saved me, you were already hurt but you still saved me from getting injured," Toshiie said, so she would stay up and answer him. She smiled weakly.

"I said I was gonna give up liking you, but it doesn't mean right now. I saved you because I don't wanna see someone I care about get hurt. I'd rather myself get hurt than someone I care about get hurt," she replied to him. For some reason, her words really touched him. Even though he was mean to her, she cares about him.

"Why do you care about me? I've always been rude to you," he questioned her.

"You've just been yourself, and I respect you for that. I'd rather you be honest with me than pretend," she told him. He turned to her and she was beginning to close her eyes again. He shook her awake.

"Hey, don't go to sleep! I still have a lot to talk to you about," Toshiie told her as she opened her eyes.

"I don't know how much more I can take, Toshiie," she told him. He knew she was lightheaded but he needed to make sure she stays up until the ambulance gets there.

"Stay up, Naotora," Toshiie told her again. She was trying to stay up with him but he knows she isn't gonna be able to take it much longer. She needed medical help ASAP or it'll be too late because she lost a lot of blood. He was gonna have to push his way through. "Do not close your eyes, Naotora. I'm gonna get us out of here."

"Okay, I'll help too," she said, forcing herself up. He layed her back down. "We'll be done faster if we work together." Even though he didn't let, she still helped him anyways. They pushed through the garage pieces and managed to get out. When they finally got out, she fell down on him and passed out. He picked her up like a princess and carried her out of the broken pieces. Ina and Okuni rushed to her and made sure her heart was still beating.

"She lost too much blood, I don't know if she'll make it," Toshiie told the both of them and they began crying again.

"Naotora didn't deserve this! It should have been me!" Okuni said sadly, as Ina comforted her. The ambulance was finally arriving and they took Naotora and her parents to the hospital while Ina they followed with the taxis.

They were rushed into the emergency room immediately and they watched Naotora get taken away. Ina and Okuni cried so much and the guys felt so bad for them.

"Please let them be okay," Ina said, crying sadly. Sakon comforted her and Keiji comforted Okuni. All Toshiie could think of was for them to be okay. He felt really guilty for treated her badly. She was a nice and sweet girl who puts her life on the line for the ones she cares about and it was just sad to see that happen to her.

They all stayed there until finally the doctor came out of the emergency room. They rushed over to him and asked if they were gonna be okay.

"The mother and father will be alright, and as for the girl…," the doctor began, as they wondered what he was gonna say to them…


	2. Chapter 2

My eyes opened and the first thing thought was that I am alive. I saw up in bed and saw Ina, Okuni, Toshiie, Keiji, Sakon, and Kiyomasa. They were all sleeping on the couches. I looked at Toshiie. _Wow, I never thought he would get involved in my life. I thought we were never gonna talk or anything._ I couldn't help but feel a bit happy deep inside. They all came to my rescue and I don't think I could have asked for anything better. I couldn't believe I worried Okuni and Ina again, even though I told them I wasn't gonna make them worry anymore.

It was already morning, around seven. I took a stretch and then remembered my parents. Where were they anyways? I hope they're alright._ Maybe they are in a different room. I'll just go ask one of the nurse's._ I got out of bed quietly, making sure to not wake anyone up. I began walking carefully and then I fell down because my leg wasn't healed. I forced myself back up and began walking towards the door again.

I was right at the door when someone grabbed my shoulders, scaring me and I flinched so hard that I lost balance and began falling until they grabbed my wrist and pulled me back and I landed in their arms. I looked up and it was Toshiie. _Oh my gosh, I'm in Toshiie's arms!_

"Trying to run away again while you're still healing?" Toshiie asked and I shook my head. He moved me away from his arms.

"I'm just gonna go see if my parents are okay," I told him truthfully. He let go of my shoulder. "Do you wanna help me find their room?"

"No, I don't peek from room to room in hospitals," Toshiie said, "If you wanna go, you can go ahead," I nodded my head._ Well, he's back to his old cold self. Oh well, I guess I can expect something like that from him. I'll just look for it myself._

"Okay, I'll be back in a bit," I told him, opening the door quietly and I went out. I began walking a few steps and then I fell down. I forced myself to stand back up and continued walking. I fell down a lot during the process…

Toshiie wasn't gonna help her but then he saw how she kept falling down but she kept getting up and walking no matter what. He thought she really was so stubborn. He couldn't stand seeing her walking and falling and thinking about how she was really hurt already. Toshiie shook his head and began walking to her. He grabbed her left arm and put it around his neck. He held her right side of her waist and helped her walk. She turned to him, surprised.

"I thought you didn't want to help me," Naotora told him.

"You are such a pain, Naotora. You've caused a lot of problems for me, all in less than a month," he told her, helping her. He already knew what room her parents were in. He took her to the second floor and into the sixth room. He opened the door and they went inside.

"I didn't know you knew where they were," she told him. He got her a chair and she sat down. "Thanks for taking me here." He nodded his head. He thought she might want privacy so he went out of the room and closed the door. He stood by the side for her to finish. He was looking down when he heard her talking to them…

My parents were covered in scars and bruises. It really saddened me to see them like that. It really hurts to see someone I care about get hurt. Tears formed in my eyes and dropped down my cheeks. Everything was my fault. If I didn't talk to Toshiie, this never would have happened to my parents. I don't blame him though. I can only blame myself for the pain I caused my parents.

"Mom, dad, I am so sorry," I began, starting to cry. I tried not to but I couldn't help it. "It's all my fault. I put your lives at risk and you guys got hurt because of me. I love you guys so much. Please, wake up." I knew they couldn't hear me though. "Do you remember when you told me that you will always be with me?" I took my mom and dad's hand and held it. "I still need you in my life, I'm still just a kid. I'm only in sixth grade. What will I ever do if you don't wake up? If you love me as much as you say, then you will be okay."

The door opened and in came a nurse. She turned to me and smiled.

"Hi, you must be their daughter, Naotora, right?" she questioned me. I wiped my tears away and nodded my head. "Don't be sad. They're gonna be just fine. As for you though, you're gonna take longer to heal. Why don't you go back into your room and rest? I need to take some blood samples from them."

"Okay," I replied to her. She helped me to the door. She opened the door and there Toshiie was. I thought he had left already. I guess he probably waited for me…

Toshiie heard everything Naotora said to her parents. It was sad to hear but he didn't show any emotions towards it. The door opened and he turned. Naotora saw him and seemed surprised he was still there.

"You were waiting for her, right?" the nurse asked him.

"No, I was just leaving," Toshiie replied to her and she laughed.

"Oh don't be silly, help a girl out, will ya?" the nurse said and Naotora smiled. He thought she is so bothersome.

"It's okay, I remember the way back. I can take care of myself," Naotora told the nurse, smiling. She then began walking off. She took five steps and almost fell down but she held on to the seats. The nurse told her to be careful and she laughed.

"You both have a very cute love," she told Toshiie and went inside the room. Toshiie thought he might feel sorry for her and everything but nothing's changed between them. He turned to Naotora and she was gone! He looked around for her and saw her climbing on the stairs. He began walking to the stairs but when he was halfway, she fell and began falling down the stairs, scaring him a lot…

I fell down and began to fall down._ I'm gonna fall down the stairs! Oh no, what to do? _I shut my eyes because I didn't wanna see when I felt pain. Just then, someone wraps their hand around my waist and I fell on top of that person. I opened my eyes turned around. Toshiie was the one who saved me._ Wow, if feels like he's been saving me so much._

"Gosh, don't you ever know how to be careful, Naotora? You cause a lot of trouble," Toshiie told me. _Why is he saying that? It's not like I tell him to save me or anything. Oh well, at least he saved me, that's all that matters._

"Well, I can't help that I'm injured and there's no one around to help me," I told him, getting off him. He got up and helped me stand up. "Sorry I keep causing trouble for you, Toshiie, but thank you for helping me." He helped me get back up to my room and the rest were awake.

"Naotora! Thank goodness! I was so worried when you weren't here when I woke up. I thought Toshiie kidnapped you or something," Ina told me, rushing over to hug me. I hugged her back and smiled.

"See, Ina? I told you Toshiie didn't do anything," Sakon told her.

"Will you stop thinking that I kidnapped her? I'm not a kidnapper!" Toshiie told Ina. I began laughing because he said that. He turned to me. "What's so funny?" I snickered some more and shook my head._ It's so funny how Ina says that he kidnaps me._ Okuni came over to me to give me a hug too. I hugged her back.

"Naotora, how are you feeling? Are you hungry or anything?" she asked me and I nodded my head. I was feeling pretty hungry.

"I feel pretty hungry. I don't even know when was the last time I ate," I told them and they laughed. I laughed along with them. Ina and Okuni helped me onto the bed but I was sitting up in bed.

"Well, I should head back home and shower," Keiji said to us. The guys agreed so they were gonna go home too.

"Okay, thanks for coming to my rescue, I'll make sure to repay you guys," I told them and they left. When Toshiie left, I felt a bit sad. I looked down and sucked in my bottom lips. Ina and Okuni turned to me and saw.

"It's okay, Naotora. You see him every day at school. It's not the last time you're gonna see him," Ina told me and I nodded my head and smiled.

"Well, I'll go get us something to eat. Do you want some Gyoza?" Okuni asked us and we nodded our heads. She smiled and then left to go buy some food.

A week later, the hospital finally discharged me so now I can go back to school. I would have been behind but my friends always brought over the homework and we worked on it together. When I was still in the hospital, my teacher Mrs. Nohime also came to see me too. I told her everything that happened too. I was a bit disappointed when I didn't see Toshiie at all while in the hospital but it didn't really matter.

My mom dropped me off at my school, where I saw Ina and Okuni waiting for me. I gave my mom a hug before I left.

"Bye, mom. I love you," I told her and she hugged me back. She told me she loved me too. I got out of the car and she drove off. I then began walking to my friends. I wasn't completely healed yet, but I was well enough to walk. Ina and Okuni waved hi to me and I did the same. They walked over to me too. We group hugged with each other.

"Hi, Naotora," they said at the same time. I said it to them too. The three of us went to go sit down and I saw Toshiie playing his guitar while hanging with his friends._ He is so good at playing guitar. Wait, I should be working on not liking him anymore so no more compliments for him._

"You just barely came back and the first person you think of is Toshiie?" Ina told me and laughed. I laughed and shook my head. "Oh come on, Naotora. It's so obvious." I just smiled and looked down.

"I'm gonna try to not like him anymore," I told them and they grew shocked. Their mouths dropped open and they gasped.

"What? Why? You've liked him for eight years! What made you decide to stop liking him?" Okuni asked me. I sighed before speaking.

"I'm accepting reality, we're never gonna be together so I'm just gonna stop liking him, or at least try to. You'd feel the same way if you liked a guy but he doesn't like you back. It's like why continue to like him?" I told them. I looked at them. "You guys would help me, right?" They nodded their heads.

"Yeah we would, but are you sure this is what you want? I don't want you to regret later on in life. What if he falls in love with you but you don't like him anymore?" Ina asked me. I groaned and layed back on the bench. _Why is love so complicated?_

"I dunno… But for now, I should just stop liking him. Anyways, why would he like a girl like me? I always cause trouble for him. There's nothing to like about that," I told them and they kinda understood what I was trying to say. "I just want you guys to help me not look at him anymore. I don't want to be bothersome to him so I should ask Mrs. Nohime to switch my seat with someone else."

"Well, okay but anytime you want us to stop, just tell us, okay?" Okuni told me and I smiled and nodded my head…

Toshiie saw Naotora at school again. It's been a week since he last saw her. He expected to see her with clutches or in a wheelchair but she was on her own two feet walking normally. He thought that Naotora healed pretty fast for someone that was beat and bleeding out badly. Nevertheless, it was kinda great seeing her back in school.

It was time for core class, which was Mrs. Nohime's class. Toshiie went inside the classroom, only to find Zhang Bao sitting in Naotora's seat. It was weird because they didn't have a seat change. He didn't say anything about it though. When Naotora came into class, she sat down on Zhang Bao's old seat. He figured she was probably trying to not like him. She probably was trying to not look at him anymore.

"Okay, class. As you all know, we only have three weeks left of school. Are you all excited?" Mrs. Nohime said and everyone was shouted out "yes" to her. She was smiling and went to grab some papers. "But for the remaining three weeks, you will need to study very hard for the upcoming tests." Everyone groaned out loud. She laughed. "Come on, it's not so bad. I'm sure you will all do great. Okay, so right now I'm going to be passing out practice worksheets. The questions on there are similar to the ones on the test." She passed the papers out to everyone. "Now, you guys can work on this together in a group or individually." Everyone began to pair up and get into groups. His friends were already by him so he had nothing to worry about…

My friends and I got together in a group. Yoshitsune moved over to where Ma Dai sat. Okuni took Yoshitsune's seat and Sakon took Okuni's seat.Okuni and I flipped the seats to where we would be able to make eye contact with Ina. _Why must they sit right where we are at? I'm trying to not look at Toshiie anymore._ I found myself begin to turn to him. I quickly looked down before I had the chance to look at him. _Whew, that was close. I almost looked at him. Good thing I didn't._

"Okay, so do you guys wanna work on it for a while and then share answers?" Ina suggested and we agreed on it. We began working on it quietly and to my surprise, the worksheet was super easy! I thought it would be challenging but it wasn't, at least not for me.

In about 10 minutes, I finished and I saw that Ina and Okuni were still working on theirs. I put my pencil down and it rolled away and fell down on the side. I bent down and picked it up. When I was coming back up, someone was standing there! It scared me.

"Oh my goodness you scared me!" I said aloud, looking at who it was._ Oh no, why does it have to be Toshiie? Of all the people in my class, it just had to be him._ "Oh, Toshiie." Ina and Okuni looked up and saw him in front of the side of my desk.

"Watch it, stupid. You almost hit me with your head," he told me and went past me.

"He is so rude!" Ina said with a mad face. Okuni nodded her head. I shrugged my shoulders and took out a piece of paper.

"Oh well, at least I'm gonna get over him," I told them both and they laughed. They continued to work on the worksheets while I doodled on the paper. I was smiling as I drew a quick sketch of the three of us…

Toshiie went to go throw a piece of paper away and headed back to his seat. He began going past Naotora and she was drawing what looked to be her, Ina, and Okuni. He stopped walking and watched her draw. She was smiling while drawing. He concluded she must be really great friends with them. He then continued walking to his seat. He and Keiji them were already done with their work so now they were just talking.

"I think Ina is hella pretty," Sakon said, smiling. They turned to her working on the paper. They laughed. Keiji then turned to Toshiie.

"So, Toshiie, tell me, do you have a thing for that Naotora chick? Is there something on between you two?" Keiji asked, as the other guys got curious. Toshiie turned to Naotora and she finished drawing the picture.

"Naotora? If you mean being bothersome, then yeah. Bad stuff has been happening to me because of her. If you guys think I like her, slap yourself. I don't even like her that way," Toshiie told them. They just laughed it off…

At lunch time, we were eating some dumplings and sushi that my mom brought for lunch. She brought it at her own will and that was what I love so much about her. She always made yummy food and brings it for my friends and I to share. She brought us a lot. We knew we weren't gonna finish it so we decided to go and share it with our favorite teacher, Mrs. Nohime.

We walked inside her class and she was sitting down, eating some plain salad. She turned to us when the door opened. She smiled and greeted us kindly.

"Hello, girls. Did you guys come here just to chill or because you guys needed help or just wanted to talk?" she told us and we went to sit down. She brought her food over to a seat and sat with us.

"Naotora's mom made some dumplings and sushi and we wanted to share it with you because you're our favorite teacher," Ina told her and she smiled.

"Oh, did she? That is really sweet of you three but I'm on a diet," she replied to Ina.

"Mrs. Nohime, you're perfect the way you are, no need for a diet. Besides, you can cheat for just today," I told her and she laughed. She then closed her plastic salad bowl.

"Aww, Naotora, you're too sweet. I guess it won't hurt to skip today," she told me and I smiled. I gave them chopsticks and we began eating it. When I put a dumpling in my mouth, it was still warm. It was so yummy and delicious. I then realized we didn't have any drinks.

"I'll go get us some drinks. It's all on me. Which kind would you like?" I asked them, putting on my shoulder bag.

"I'll get Mountain Dew," Ina said to me.

"I think I'm craving for some apple juice," Okuni told me.

"It's okay, Naotora," Mrs. Nohime told me and I insisted on buying her one. "Oh, alright. I'll get some water. Thank you." I just smiled. Ina and Okuni thanked me too. I went out to where they sold snacks and drinks. I bought a mountain dew, apple juice, water, and root beer. I decided to buy some snacks too. I bought four brownies too. I carried the stuff in my bag. I took out the root beer and opened it. I began drinking it and then a basketball hit my head and fell down, only except I fell on someone and my root beer spilled on them…

Naotora fell on top of Toshiie and her root beer spilled all over his shirt. She gasped and looked up. Toshiie was so angry at her.

"What the hell, Naotora?" Toshiie yelled at her and she quickly got off him, only to step on his index finger. He quickly pulled away. "Ow! You stepped on my finger, stupid!"

"I am so sorry, Toshiie. Here, let me help you," she said, taking his hand and began pulling him up. He smacked her hand way from his and a mountain dew came out of her bag and conked his head before falling on him softly. "Oh my goodness, are you okay?" She grabbed the mountain dew and accidentally scratched his arm.

"Ow, Naotora!" yelled Toshiie as she flinched and a brownie came out of her bag and hit his head too. He was pissed off to the max at her. She took the brownie and put it back in her bag. She took out something from her bag. He stood up as she was only up to his shoulder.

"Here, use this to take the root beer stain off your shirt," she told him. She tried giving him one of the "tide to go's" where he just erases the stain off. He took it meanly away from her.

"I don't want your stupid tide to go's!" he shouted, throwing it off hard as it hit a pole and bounced back and hit his head. He was angrier than before now. "Stop coming close to me! Gosh, ever since you first spoke to me, I've had nothing but bad luck in my life! You stupid girl!"

"Well it's not like I do it on purpose! I'm trying to not be close to you anymore. We just happen to always be close by each other," she told him and he saw a pair of scissors flying to her. It was gonna hit the back of her head.

"Look out!" he said, moving her as they both fell and he was on top of her. The scissor plunged into the building wall very hard and he knew it must have been a guy who threw it because there was no way a girl could throw it that hard. He got off her and pulled her up. He exhaled hard and turned to her. She was looking down. He didn't even wanna yell at her anymore because she just almost died for the third time already.

"Sorry, Toshiie," she told him. She took a deep breath and began walking off and turned left, being out of view. He was about to walk off but he saw three guys from the corner of his eyes. They had a bag with them.

"Okay, I'll be the one to grab her and you stuff her in the bag," one of the guy said and they began walking the direction where Naotora went. He had a feeling that they were gonna get her. He shook his head.

"That Naotora…," he said and began heading that direction too. He went past those guys, who were close to Naotora. He grabbed her wrist and began running.

"Toshiie, what are you…," began Naotora as he told her to shut up. She did so and they both began running off…

"Hey!" a guy shouted from behind us as we were running.I turned and three guys were chasing us. _What on earth is going on? Who are those guys?_

"Who are those guys?" I asked Toshiie, as we were running.

"The same guy who threw the scissor at you, I bet," he replied, running too. Boy, he sure was tempted to get away from those guys, but my legs began to get tired of running after a while of running really fast.

"I'm getting tired of running," I told Toshiie but he didn't care. He continued forcing me to run for literally 10 minutes, even though my leg was still in the process of healing. "I really can't run anymore, my leg hurts too much." He still paid me no attention and we continued running. It was then that I fell down because my leg hurt too much._ If only this school was smaller, we would have been able to hide._ Toshiie helped me back up.

"Keep running!" he told me, grabbing my wrist and beginning to run again. I fell down again and shook my head.

"I really can't," I told him and he lifted me back up and made me run again. I was just being dragged on the wrist when we were running. He turned the corner and went to a dark spot, putting me against the wall. "What are you…"

"Shh!" Toshiie told me and I stopped talking. We saw the guys running past us and they went off._ I still wonder why they were chasing us._ Once we caught our breaths, he gave me a knucklehead.

"Ow, what was that for?" I asked him.

"For causing so much trouble for me," he told me and I thought about what just happened before the chase. Thinking about it makes me wanna laugh. I can't believe I didn't laugh when it happened. I began to form a smile. Toshiie turned to me. "What are you smiling about?" I shook my head.

"Nothing important," I replied to him and began snickering. I covered my mouth and tried not to laugh in front of him. "Well anyways, I got to go back to Ina and Okuni them. I was supposed to go eat some of my mom's food."

"Whatever, just stop being so bothersome," he said and I went off, back into Mrs. Nohime's room. Ina and Okuni weren't there anymore. Mrs. Nohime turned to me and smiled.

"Where did you go, Naotora? Ina and Okuni were worried," she told me. I told her that I got caught up with business so I was a bit late. "Well, we saved you some of the food your mom made. It was very good." I smiled and nodded.

"Oh, here's your water," I told her, handing the water bottle to her. She took it and thanked me. I went over to the food and began eating again…

Toshiie was walking to his friends when someone turned him around. He turned and it was Ina and Okuni. Ina had a very mad face.

"Where did you kidnap Naotora this time?" she said madly. Toshiie was so sick and tired of Ina accusing him of kidnapping their friend. He shook his head. "Well?"

"Would you just stop saying that I kidnapped her already? Sheesh, I didn't even do anything to her!" Toshiie replied to her as she looked at him suspiciously. Okuni began laughing and nudged Ina's shoulders.

"Cut him some slack, Ina. You know he wouldn't do anything like that to Naotora," Okuni said. Ina crossed her arms and turned to him.

"Well, regardless. I got my eyes on you. If you ever even think about it," Ina began as Toshiie interrupted her.

"I would never think about kidnapping her! She's bad luck to me. I wouldn't dare go close to her," he replied to them and walked off madly and turned the corner as someone bumped into him…

I quickly finished eating and went to go look for Ina and Okuni. I was just jogging and I turned the corner when I bumped into someone and I fell down on top of whoever it was. I bumped into Toshiie again.

"Would you just stop bumping into me? Gosh, Naotora! You seriously should stay a few inches away from me," he told me. _I don't get it. Sometimes, it seems like he's nice but then the moment you begin thinking he is nice, he gets mean._

"Sorry," I told him. I got off him and he began walking off, only to slip on one of the brownies that came out of my bag. He fell down on his butt and I accidentally laughed out loud. "Are you okay, Toshiie?" Ina and Okuni were laughing so hard.

"Naotora, why you! You're lucky you're a girl," Toshiie said madly. I knew he was so angry at me.

"Here, let me help you up," I told him but he already got up himself. He looked at me with such hatred in his eyes and then walked past me. I watched him leave and Ina and Okuni came to me. I sighed. "Well, he really hates me."

"Oh well, he doesn't know what he's missing out on. He'll learn that you have so much more to offer," Okuni said and I smiled. I nodded my head and we headed off back into Mrs. Nohime's class.

When I came home after school, my parents wanted to have a talk with me. We were in the living room and we were sitting on the couches.

"Naotora, we're afraid you'll get hurt again and we don't want that for you. As a parent, we have to do what's best for their kid to be safe," my dad began._ I wonder what he's trying to say. I understand that a parent must do whatever mean necessary to protect their child, but why is he making it seem like it's not safe for me to be here anymore? _I nodded my head, understanding what he was telling me. "While you were still in the hospital, I began searching for a new job and I found one."

"That's great, where is your new job?" I said, feeling happy for him that he found a new job. My dad looked down. My smile then faded._ Did he find a job out of the city? Are we gonna have to move?_ "It's not in the city, is it?"

"I'm afraid not, Naotora. It's very far from here, not in this state," he told me and I was very disappointed._ We really are gonna move. I don't want that. I don't want to leave my friends behind._ "I know you don't want to move, and I don't either, but it's for the best. I can't watch you hurt again." _I understood that he didn't wanna see me hurt again._ I was really sad. Tears came out of my eyes and down my cheeks.

"When do we have to move?" I asked, wiping my tears away.

"We're moving in the summer, so you still have three weeks to be with your friends," my mom replied to me._ If I only have three weeks, I have to use it wisely, but how am I gonna tell them? They are gonna be so sad. Will we come back or will we stay there?_

"How long are we staying there?" I questioned again. They told me that they didn't know and that they plan to stay there and settle down._ I guess I'm not gonna see my friends anymore. I won't be seeing Toshiie anymore either._

After that conversation, I went into my room and cried for a while. I really didn't wanna move but my parents are looking out for me too, not to mention that they could still get hurt too. _Maybe it is better for us to move and begin a new life there. If we never come back, then that is destiny._ I was sitting on my bed, hugging my legs.

"How am I gonna tell Ina and Okuni?" I asked myself, being sad. I know that if I tell them now, they won't be able to focus on the exams and I don't want that for them. Maybe I'll just wait until the tests are no more and then I'll tell them. About Toshiie though, it didn't really matter because he was an eighth grader and he's gonna be going to high school so either way I won't be seeing him. I then lay on my bed. "Why is life so complicated and hard?" I then decided to go to sleep.

The next day came and I was so tired._ Why did I stay up so late?_ I got on campus and headed to my locker to get my book for core class. I went to locker number seventy nine and opened it. I saw a toad in there and it really scared me! I screamed and began running off as I bumped into Toshiie and fell on top of him…

Toshiie was just walking to his friends when he heard someone scream and he turned, only to see Naotora run and bump into him. They both fell down on the cement with her on top of him. She held on to his shirt really tight.

"Toad! There's a toad in my locker! Get it out, get it out!" she screamed in his ear. Her eyes were shut tight.

"Naotora!" Toshiie yelled, covering his right ear. He could feel her heart beating so he knew she must be really afraid of them. He got up and helped her up too. "It's just a freaken toad! What's so scary about them?" She hid behind him, holding his shirt and peeking.

"They're scary!" Naotora exclaimed and Toshiie thought there was nothing scary about them. He walked to her locker and looked at the toad. It was such a small toad and he couldn't believe she was afraid of it. He turned to her.

"Really? You crashed into me over a small toad like this? Gosh, Naotora, why are you so bothersome?" he told her, giving her a knucklehead. She was really scared. The toad croaked once and jumped out of her locker and she screamed. "Would you just shut up? You're so annoying!" She stopped screaming.

"Why aren't you afraid of them?" she asked, her eyes sparkling from the sunlight. He looked at her heterochromia eyes. Her right eye was brown and her left eye was a beautiful water blue color. He was starting to think about how pretty she was but then he quickly turned away, thinking he was never gonna fall in love with her.

"Because only stupid girls like you are afraid of them," he told her and walked off, wondering why he started to think about her. The image of her with her sparkling eyes in the sunlight kept playing in his head. He went into the bathroom and splashed water on his face. He looked into the mirror and all he saw was her with sparkling eyes! "Ugh, stop playing in my head! I don't like her, I don't like her, I like her." He gasped when he said he liked her. "No way, I don't like her. I will never fall in love with Naotora." The image finally disappeared and he took a very deep breath, calming himself. Then he came out of the bathroom and walked to his friends…

I persuaded my friends to go Karaoke today after school, especially because it was Friday. We were walking to the "Live it up" Karaoke place. It's the only place that allows middle school students and high school students' in. We got a booth together and our room was number six. We went inside and it was very nice. It was baby blue and pink inside there.

"We are gonna have so much fun here!" Ina exclaimed happily. Okuni and I agreed. We turned it on and there were so many songs to choose from. There were all races of songs. Okuni put on the song "Stay with me" by Sam Smith.

"Guess it's true I'm not good at a one night stand but I still need love cause I'm just a man. These nights don't seem to go to plan. I don't want you to leave. Will you hold my hand? Won't you stay with me cause you're all I need. This ain't love, it's clear to see but darling stay with me," sang Okuni. She was very good at singing. Ina and I cheered her on. When she was finished, Ina put on "Listen to your Heart" by Kelly Clarkson.

I know there's something in the wake in your smile. I get a notion from the look in your eyes, yeah. You've built a love, but that love falls apart. Your little piece of heaven turns to dark. Listen to your heart when he's calling for you. Listen to your heart, there's nothing else you can do. I don't know where you're going and I don't know why but listen to your heart before he tells you goodbye," Ina sang and she was very good too. Okuni and I cheered for her. It was my turn to sing now. I decided to sing the song "Problem" by Becky G. I played it and got ready to sing.

"I'm one of a kind, got everybody in love and I don't have to try, I just do what I died. Don't have to tell me, I already know. They all want me. Yo, I run this, I smash it like my bass real hard boom bastic. Speed race baby, I'm a lot faster. Cause trouble, never listen to my master. New Benz all black from Malaysia. Can't drive but my mama don't care, yup. To the top, imma take it to the ceiling. I'm on the moon but I feel the sun beaming. I'm so dope like ooh la la. So so fly like a helicopter. Sup to the hood and the homies on the block, doin' it big, ya you know, what's up. Some come and try to say I'm a problem. So crazy gotta put em' in an asylum. Some come and try to say I'm a problem. Ha, solve it," I sang. It was more of a rap song though.

"You are really good!" Ina and Okuni said in unison. I thanked them and we continued singing a bunch of other songs. Finally, we decided to sing "Touch my body" by the Korean girl group Sistar. We were gonna do the dance too. We moved the seats aside so we would be able to do the dance. Ina pressed play and came back. We got in position and the song began playing.

"Touch my body, body. Touch my body, body. Touch my body, body. Touch my body," Okuni sang, as we were all dancing. We were having so much fun.

"I know you want it, neon nae gyeoteuro wa. Naega junbuhan wine dalkomhan chocolate chocolate. Jom budeureopgo ttaeron tteugeowojineun neomanuel wihan my pool," I sang, smiling while dancing.

"Ppalgaejineun neoui de nune bichin nae moseup, unjeoneun niga hae geujeo nae du soneun haneurwiro. Baby dancing with me you're my star," Ina sang.

"Touch my body," Okuni sang. We were still dancing.

"Urin jogeumssik ppareuge," I sang.

"Oh everybody," Ina sang.

"Pureun haneul boda nopi," I sang.

"Jigeum I rideumi joha tteugeon taeyangarae neowana," Okuni sang, as we were pretending so slap each other's butt for fun and then the door swung open and we quickly stopped and turned to see who opened it…

Toshiie and his friends decided to go sing at the "Live it up" for fun because it was a nice Friday and they weren't doing anything. They got their room, which was room seven. While they were walking to the room, they can hear some girls singing the Korean song "Touch my body" and Keiji opened the door to see who it was that was singing because they were really good and to their surprise, it was Naotora and her friends. When Toshiie saw that Naotora was in there, his heart pounded and he wasn't sure if it was through excitement or through fear. It looked like they were dancing too.

"Well, didn't expect it to be you guys," Keiji told them and they stopped singing and dancing. Ina then turned and saw Toshiie. She put her hands on her hips.

"Well, if you are thinking of kidnapping…," Ina began to Toshiie.

"I'm not gonna kidnap her! God, Ina, how many times do I have to keep telling you so you'll get it through your thick skull?" Toshiie yelled at her and everyone began laughing, including Naotora. She was using her hands to cover her mouth though and he thought she looked so cute doing that. Toshiie wondered why he was thinking that, because he doesn't even like her that way.

"Hey Ina," Sakon told Ina. Ina just smiled at him.

"Well anyway, we'll let you guys continue singing," Keiji said to the girls, "I just wanted to see who was singing because they were really good." Keiji closed the door and they went into their room. Toshiie was getting confused. He really hopes he isn't liking Naotora or anything. She always makes bad things happen to him.

"What are you thinking about?" Kiyomasa asked him, sitting down next to him while Sakon and Keiji were setting a song up for them. Toshiie shook his head.

"Nothing, why?" he replied, seeming serious. He was so good at acting that Kiyomasa didn't suspect and thought he was serious.

"I dunno, it just kinda seemed like you were thinking about something," Kiyomasa told him and Toshiie shook his head. They then began singing and having fun too…

Ina, Okuni, and I left the "Live it up" around six and went to go eat out. We went to an Asian restaurant. I ordered some sweet bulgogi with lots of rice, Ina ordered some orange chicken and egg rolls, and Okuni ordered some pot stickers and sushi. We were gonna share it together. While we were waiting for the food, we were talking with each other.

"It's so funny how you always say that Toshiie kidnaps me when I'm not around for a while," I told Ina and we all laughed so much.

"Yeah, I don't know why but whenever you don't come back for a while, I picture him grabbing you and putting you in a bag and taking you off somewhere. I know he would never do it but I just like to say it anyways to get his reaction," Ina told us and we laughed some more.

"Well, it seems like he cares one moment and then before you know it, he is all mean again," Okuni added in. She then began laughing so much and Ina and I looked at each other, wondering why she was laughing. "Remember at school when Toshiie slipped on one of the brownies you bought?" Ina and I began laughing again. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I remember. Speaking of that day, I pissed him off so much but it was unintentionally. You see, when I went to but the stuff, I opened my drink and then I was drinking it and a ball hit my head so I fell down on him. My soda spilled on him. I tried to help him up but he smacked my hand away as your mountain dew fell out of my bag and hit his head," I told them. We were having so much fun laughing.

"Wow, really? I wish I was there to see," Ina said, laughing.

"And then I grabbed the mountain dew and accidentally scratched him and he yelled really loud, which scared me so I flinched and a brownie came out of my bag and hit him on the head too. He got up and I gave him one of my tide to go's but instead he threw it away but it hit a pole and bounced back and hit his head too," I continued, laughing.

"Don't worry about it. I can guarantee that if you keep doing that, he's going to hate it but once you stop, he's gonna miss it," Okuni told me. _Would he really miss all those things? I wonder if he will miss it when I move._

"The food's ready," I told them, seeing the waitress bring our stuff we ordered. We were so happy that we were gonna get to eat the yummy food…

On Wednesday, it was time for our Math exam. Everyone just had to stay in their core class. We were all in Mrs. Nohime's class. We were all nervous about the test. It was morning after the bell rang. We sat down on out seats and Mrs. Nohime took out the exams.

"Okay, I hope you all studied very hard because today is the test. There are four sections each and you will have an hour and thirty minutes to finish each section. Stop after the first section. Once I pass out all of the exams, you may get started. I want to wish you guys all good luck on this test," Mrs. Nohime said, passing out our exams to us. Each exam has our own name on it. Once we all had our own exams, we began working on it. The test was a bit challenging but I managed to pull it off. I finished the exam in exactly thirty minutes and there were thirty questions. Since I was finished really early, I double checked my answers until the time was up. I took my precious time redoing every problem, just to make sure I didn't make any mistakes and so far I haven't. Mrs. Nohime told us to close the exam because it's time for a ten minute break.

"Whoo hoo! I was beginning to get tired of sitting down," Keiji said, getting up happily and we all went outside. The breeze really was kicking in and it felt really nice. I smiled and took a nice stretch.

"Isn't the breeze wonderful?" I asked Ina and Okuni, stretching out my hands as I accidentally punched someone. I gasped and turned. I expectedly it to be Toshiie but it was Yoshitsune. "I am so sorry Yoshitsune, I didn't see you." He smiled.

"It's alright. That was some punch, Naotora. You're pretty strong for a girl," he replied to me._ Wow, he is so much nicer than Toshiie. I wonder why I didn't like him or something. Maybe it's because of I saw Toshiie first._ I smiled and backed up, stepping on someone's foot by accident. That person pulled their feet away really fast…

Naotora stepped on Toshiie's foot by accident. He pulled his foot away quickly.

"Ow, Naotora! Would you just stop being near me already? You have caused so much trouble for me!" Toshiie yelled at Naotora. She turned around to him, her hair slapping his left eye as he covered. "Ow, stupid!"

"I am so sorry, Toshiie. I didn't see you," she told him, as he began walking off. He decided that he wasn't even gonna say anything to her because every time he does, something bad always happens…

Toshiie began walking away and I saw that he dropped his wallet on the ground. I picked it up and went after him.

"Wait, Toshiie, you forgot your wallet," I told him, jogging to catch up. Right when I reached him, I stepped on a rock as I lost balance and fell down. I fell on Toshiie's back and we and he fell down.

"Tsk, Naotora. Get off me right now, what the hell are you doing? Didn't I just tell you to stay away from me?" Toshiie said, as I got off him. He stood up too. I reached out his wallet for him and he saw it.

"I was just gonna return your wallet to you. It was on the ground," I explained to him. He exhaled and shook his head. He took it and I looked down. "Sorry, Toshiie." I turned around and walked off to Ina and Okuni…

Toshiie felt kinda bad for yelling at her now. It was time to go back to the class and they began section two of the exam. It was easy for him but he wasn't really focused anymore. He kept thinking about Naotora and it was scaring him because he has a slight feeling he may have fallen for her. He would work a few problems and then stop and look at Naotora working on the exam too. He shrugged it off and told himself he isn't gonna fall in love with her. There was just no way they would be together.

"Okay, class please close your books and have a ten minute break again. This time, you each can get a snack," Mrs. Nohime said, getting a box and placing it on a table by the door. Everyone got up to check what kind of snack there was.

"Oh boy, apple juice and pop tarts!" Keiji shouted, grabbing one of each. Everyone got their own apple juice and pop tart. He turned and saw Naotora with her friends, eating her pop tart and laughing with her friends. His cousin and friends were up ahead from them. He then wondered why they are always by Naotora and her friends. He began walking to his friends. He was just about to pass Naotora when she spluttered out the juice from her mouth and it got on Toshiie's face as he shut his eyes closed. He heard her gasp. He got so angry at her again. He wiped his face and turned to her.

"What the hell, Naotora?" he yelled at her.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident," she explained as he gave her a knucklehead.

"I can never have peace with you around, you stupid troublesome kid," he told her and went off to wash his face…

I watched Toshiie leave and sighed. I turned to my friends.

"Why does this always happen? I'm not even trying to get him hurt or anything," I confessed to them. They told me that it was okay._ He is right. So much bad luck has been happening since I first spoke to him. It's okay though because he won't be seeing me anymore. I'm gonna be moving pretty soon._

"Hey, Naotora, you alright? It's time to go back to class," Ina told me, and I snapped out of thinking. I nodded my head and we went back inside the classroom.

After the third section, it was lunch time. My dad brought some teriyaki chicken on a stick for us to share. We were sitting down and for some reason, we were right by Toshiie them. I opened the bag and there was a lot. I loved how my parents always made more than enough and brought it over for my friends and I to share. There was about thirty pieces of them. We each grabbed one.

"Naotora, I love your parents so much! They always bring us some food. Tell them I said thanks, okay?" Ina told me and I smiled. I nodded my head and we began eating them. It was so yummy and delicious. The chicken wasn't too hard.

"Ey, Naotora, can I have some?" Keiji asked me and I nodded my head.

"Sure, why not?" I replied and handed him three of them. I turned to the rest. "Do you guys want some too?"

"Sure," they replied, as I gave them each three too. Toshiie was the only one who didn't take any.

"Toshiie, you don't want any?" I asked, as he shook his head, not looking at me._ Why doesn't he want any? Maybe he's just trying to be polite. I should just give him some anyways._ I took three of them and put it on a napkin carefully. "Well, if you decided you want some, it'll be right by you, okay?" I set it down right next to his hand. The sharp point of the stick poked his hand and he flinched.

"Ow, Naotora! You made it poke my hand!" he yelled at me.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to make it poke you hand! Here's a napkin," I told him, giving him a napkin as he slapped my hand away and his hand scanned the sticks but he got a splinter.

"Ow! Naotora, just go back to your friends!" he yelled.

"No, I wanna help you," I replied to him. He took the splinter out and he was bleeding a bit. "Oh, no you're bleeding! I'll go get you a band aid, okay?" I gave the food to Okuni and I ran off to get a band aid for Toshiie…

"Damn, that shawty's a keeper. I don't see why you don't like her, Toshiie. If you don't get her, I'm taking her home to mama," Kiyomasa joked as Toshiie suddenly felt kind of jealous that Kiyomasa said that.

"Go after her, man. Don't let her do all the work," Sakon told him, forcing Toshiie up and pushed him lightly to give him a boost.

"I don't even like her that way! Besides, I didn't even ask her to do it. She's doing it at her own will," Toshiie told them.

"And that's exactly why she's a keeper. Dude, just go after her before I do and I begin hitting on her as you regret later on in life," Kiyomasa told him. Toshiie rolled his eyes and began walking to the nurse's office.

"Jog, dude!" Keiji told him and Toshiie shook his head. He thought to himself that Naotora is causing him one too many trouble and he can't wait to graduate so he won't see her for two years. It'll give him time to find a girlfriend and then she'll have to stop liking him for good.

Toshiie was jogging to the nurse's office when he saw her sitting down. He stopped and observed what she was doing. He watched her stand up and wipe her lip. He saw blood on her lip and got worried. He walked to her and she turned to him. Blood dripped from her mouth down to her chin. She quickly turned when she saw him, trying to hide it but he already saw. He turned her to him. She looked at him in the eye, her eyes extra sparkly because she had tears in her eyes.

"What happened to you?" he asked in a calm voice. She shook her head and wiped the tear away. She was trying not to cry.

"I dunno, I was just running when someone pushed me and I fell and then they punched me," Naotora told him. He felt really angry that someone would do this to her.

"Do you know who did it?" he asked as she shook her head.

"No, it was a guy though. I've never seen him before," Naotora said, as he wiped the blood away from her chin. She seemed surprised when he did that because she gasped silently. Her eyes widened a bit too.

"Let's go to the nurse's office," he told her and she nodded her head. They walked inside and Mrs. Zhu Rong cleaned up her wound.

"Who did this to you? Definitely not a girl, right?" the nurse asked her and she shook her head. Naotora told the nurse that a guy she doesn't know punched her. She then shook her head. "A guy? Shame on him! That's no way to treat a lady. He almost broke your jaw."

"My jaw?" she asked and Mrs. Zhu Rong nodded her head. Naotora looked down in disappointment. The nurse gave her an ice pack to put on her jaw to help alleviate the pain. Toshiie was wondering why a guy would punch her hard to the point where she could have broken her jaw. They thanked Mrs. Zhu Rong and headed back to their friends…

Toshiie and I began walking back to our friends. He was to my left and I began having thoughts. _Wow, so this is how it would kind of feel like if a miracle ever happened between us. Why am I even thinking this? It's not gonna happen, even though I really want it to. I'm moving and there's a very small chance that I would come back._

"You are so careless, Naotora. Not only that but…," Toshiie began and I interrupted him. I nodded my head.

"Yes, I know. I'm bothersome, troublesome, annoying, and stupid. You've told me that all the time," I replied to him.

"Well I'm glad you know. You cause nothing but trouble for me and you really should stop coming close to me," Toshiie told me, getting all cold again._ There he goes again being mean just when I was beginning to think he was becoming nice. He is right too about me bringing nothing but trouble to him. I try not to be close to him but for some reason we keep on ending up close by each other._

"Naotora! Thank goodness, I thought Toshiie kidnapped you," Ina shouted, running to me and hugging me tight. Then she noticed the ice pack in my hands. "What happened?"

"A guy punched me on my jaw," I replied to her as she gasped and turned to Toshiie. I laughed but felt a bit of pain in my jaw. "No, Ina. It wasn't Toshiie."

"Of course it wasn't. I wouldn't hit her because if I did, she would become the most stupidest girl," he told Ina and walked off to his friends up ahead. Ina's mouth dropped open and she scoffed.

"What a jerk! Don't listen to him, Naotora. You're a smart, pretty, talented girl. He's too stupid to even give you a chance and because of that, it already makes you better than him. Besides, it's not your fault he keeps coming to you," Ina told me and I just smiled it off. We went back to sit down on the bench by Toshiie them. I tried to eat the food again but chewing hurts my jaw. I stopped eating.

"What's wrong, Naotora? Are you feeling sick?" Okuni asked me and I shook my head.

"No, I'm okay. it's just that my jaw hurts too much to chew. I think I'll have to skip eating this," I replied to her. Ina and Okuni felt bad for me and gave me a hug. I hugged them back and smiled.

"I don't understand. Why are people targeting you all of a sudden? That Toshiie better not be ordering people to do this to you," Ina said, turning to Toshiie. I think he must have heard Ina because he turned to us.

"Did you not hear what I just told you earlier? Naotora is already stupid so there's really no need to order people to hit her because then she'll only get more stupid," Toshiie told Ina. She told him that he is so cruel and that he isn't even a human but rather an animal. What Toshiie said to Ina did hurt my feelings but I'm trying to not like him anymore so I shouldn't care about what he says. _I'll get over him soon and move on._

"Hey Naotora, if you aren't eating anymore, can we have yours?" Keiji asked and I nodded my head, smiling as he was really happy. I handed my teriyaki chicken to Keiji. He gave one to Sakon and Kiyomasa. "Thank you. I don't see why my uncle Toshiie doesn't like you. He's really missing out. Also, whatever mean stuff he says, don't take it seriously, okay?"

"You're welcome and I won't," I said cheerfully and the bell rang so we had to go back to Mrs. Nohime's class and take the fourth section, which has fifty questions on it.

After all the exams and hard work, we were finally on our last week of school. During the exam weeks, things always stirred up between Toshiie and me so he really hates me. It was a Wednesday and Friday is our official last day of school and my last day in the city. My parents and I already packed up our stuff.

We all went into core class and everyone was so happy it was almost the last day of school. Mrs. Nohime was really happy too.

"Everyone, settle down please," Mrs. Nohime began, as we became quiet and shifted out attention to her, "I am glad it is about to be summer time. Before that though, I wanted to talk to you guys about something. So I was thinking that we can have a small party at lunch on Friday?" Everyone grew wild and loud, especially Keiji.

"Yes we should have a party! We deserve it!" boomed Keiji with his loud voice. Everyone agreed with Keiji.

"Okay then, a party it is but what kind of party?" asked Mrs. Nohime.

"How about a potluck style party? Everyone brings a dish," Sakon said and everyone agreed too.

"Alright then, I'll provide drinks and plates and spoons and forks," Mrs. Nohime said. I thought about what to bring on Friday. It really saddened me that I was gonna have to move but at least I have no regrets.

For the meantime, we could chill and talk because there was no work for us to anymore. My friends and I were talking about what we should bring on Friday.

"I'm thinking of bringing some egg rolls," Ina told us. We thought it was a great idea for her to bring it. Everyone loves egg rolls so she should definitely bring some.

"I'm thinking about bringing some fried rice," Okuni added in. then she turned to me. "Naotora, what are you gonna bring?"

"I think I'll bring some bulgogi and dubukimchi or galbi or maybe all three. I haven't decided yet," I replied to her. We were all just talking for fun now. I smiled and looked at my two best friends in the entire world. _What am I gonna do without you guys? Ina, you're feisty, but you will stand up for me no matter what. Okuni, you're always so calm and relaxed. You are always there to listen to my problems and help me figure out a way to get through. Guys, I'm gonna miss you so much._ I looked down, feeling like crying already. We've been friends since preschool up to our sixth grade year.

"Wow, I can't believe this year is already ending. It's coming by too soon. Before we know it, we're gonna be freshmen's," Ina told us and we agreed. The year came by especially fast since I first spoke to Toshiie. I was about to turn to him when I remembered I was trying to not look at him anymore.

Just then, the door opened and in came a student. He was carrying a Yearbook. I got the feeling that it was for me, because I ordered one too and I haven't got it yet. Everyone turned to see who it was.

"Hi, I have this yearbook for Naotora Ii," he said and everyone turned to me. I smiled and got up. I walked to the student and he gave it to me. I thanked him and then he left the class. I was so happy I finally received it. Everyone went back to talking to each other. I began walking back to my desk…

Toshiie was in his seat when all of a sudden, he felt like something stabbed the back of his head and it really hurt him. He turned to see who did it. The corner of Naotora's yearbook stabbed his head.

"Ow, Naotora! You made you stupid yearbook stab my head!" he said meanly. She then turned to face him and this time, the corner of her yearbook hit scratched his forehead. He made an angry face. "Ow, stupid!"

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Toshiie!" said Naotora, flinching as she accidentally dropped the yearbook. It fell and scratched his arm once before hitting his foot.

"Ow! Stop apologizing! Gosh, every time you apologize, something bad always happens to me!" yelled Toshiie to Naotora. He bent down to pick up her yearbook as she did the same. Their heads collided together hard and they both backed up.

"Ow!" they both said in unison. Their friends began laughing at them. Naotora bent down and picked up the yearbook.

"You're seriously bad luck, Naotora. I can't wait be in high school so I won't see you anymore," Toshiie told her and she just smiled and nodded her head. He wasn't expecting reaction from her. He thought she was gonna suck in her bottom lip and look down, like she always does but this time she didn't. It made him wonder if she really doesn't care about him anymore.

"Maybe you're the bad luck in Naotora's life, Toshiie. I bet it's because you think about kidnapping her," Ina told him and he rolled his eyes.

"Stop freaken thinking I would kidnap her already! I don't have time to be a low life like that," Toshiie replied to her and Okuni was laughing a lot. She laughed the most out of them. "Shut up, Okuni. It's not even funny."

"Oh, Toshiie. I'm not laughing at that. I'm just laughing because in two years, you'll be seeing her again and people can change within two years. I'm sure she's gonna get really beautiful and you might fall deep for her. Don't say anything you'll regret later on in life," Okuni told him and he shook his head. He wondered why she would think he'll regret or anything. It's not like he even liked Naotora a lot. He turned to her and she was just drawing while smiling. He thought she would never change and in two years when he sees her again, she's still gonna be the same. There's just no way she'll change.

"I would never regret what I say," Toshiie told her as Okuni just laughed it off. The bell then rang for next period class. We all got our stuff and headed to our next class…

Friday came by really quick. I ended up cooking all three of the food I said I would make. I decided to make all of them because it was my last day in school and last day in the city. _I can't believe it's my official last day here already. I seriously gotta make it last._ It was gonna be lunch time and I got let out early from my class so I can drop off the food. As I was walking, I accidentally made the foil paper scratch someone. I couldn't see who it was.

"Ow, Naotora! Why are you always where I'm at? You need to stay away from me!" Toshiie said.

"Sorry, I didn't see you," I replied, turning to the side and I saw him. He was wearing a red shirt with cool graffiti on it. He looks like he's headed to Mrs. Nohime's class. "Are you going to Mrs. Nohime's class?"

"What do you think?" he asked meanly and I nodded my head._ I wonder if he will help me bring one tray of the food._ I looked down and then I turned to him.

"Can you help me bring one tray of food, since you're headed there too, please?" I asked him and he began walking off, not caring.

"Do it yourself, I'm not your slave," he said. He was right. I shouldn't make him carry the food. I just smiled.

"Okay, her class it just close by anyways," I replied to him and began walking too. While walking, I stepped on a cement crack and almost tripped. "Whoa." I was about to fall when someone in front of me helps me back up. "Whew, thank you."

"You're so careless. You troubled little stupid girl," Toshiie tells me._ Did he save me from falling? Yeah it must be because it's always him the one who helps me out, even though he says he isn't._ He takes two of my trays and begins walking on ahead._ He probably is a nice guy but he seems rude to others because of how he acts towards people. It just probably takes time to see the good in him._ I smiled and jogged to catch up to him, accidentally scratching his other arm with the foil paper. "Ow, Naotora!"

"Oops, sorry, Toshiie," I told him and he shook his head. He continued walking and I suddenly felt like I had butterflies in my stomach. _Why am I feeling this way towards him again? I shouldn't be._ We both walked into Mrs. Nohime's class and when he opened the door, the bell rang and I saw Ina and Okuni with Keiji them in the class already.

"Naotora! I was beginning to think…," Ina began and Okuni laughed.

"It's the last day of school, Ina. Let's all be nice to one another," Okuni said and Ina agreed with it. I just smiled and I went to go put the food down. Toshiie put my food down too. Our classmates began coming in and pretty soon, everyone was there.

We were all eating and having a wonderful time together one last time before we don't see each other for a while. As for me, it was the last time I was gonna see them. I'm gonna miss everyone and the city. Thinking about it brought tears to my eyes…

Toshiie was just looking around when he spotted Naotora having tears in her eyes. It made him wonder why she would be tearing up while they're having a great celebration. He concluded that she was tearing up because she wasn't gonna be seeing him anymore for two years. Suddenly, she stood on top of a chair.

"Hey, everyone, can I just say something really quick?" she said aloud and everyone turned to her. She took a deep breath. "Okay, first of all, I wanna congratulate all you eighth graders for your graduation. Second, I just wanna say I had a really great year being in this class with you guys. It was really fun and I don't think I'm ever gonna forget this year. And last of all, I wanna tell my friends a few things. Ina, you're a really great friend of mines and I'm really gonna miss you. Thanks for always sticking by my side no matter what. Okuni, thanks for being there for me when I needed a shoulder to lean on. And Mrs. Nohime, thank you for being more than a teacher to me. Thank you for being a great and wonderful big sister I wish I had." He wondered why she was speaking that way about her friends. He wondered why she didn't wait to say it when they were seniors. "You're all my friends and I wanna let you know no matter what you chose to do in the near future, know that I'll be supporting you, even if I'm not there. The reason why I'm saying this now is because today might be the last day of school for us, but it's also the last day I'm gonna be seeing you guys. I'm gonna be moving out of state and I don't know if I'll ever be coming again." Tears formed in her eyes when she spoke. He felt himself have a heavy heart when she said she was moving and she won't be coming anymore, which means in two years, he really won't be seeing her in his high school. She looked down and got down from the chair. Everyone was quiet and the air felt sad now.

"What? Naotora, you're moving? Why didn't you tell us?" Ina said, tears coming out of her eyes. Okuni had tears in her eyes too. Naotora shook her head.

"I knew that if I told you sooner, you wouldn't be able to concentrate on the exams and I don't want that for you guys," Naotora explained to Ina and Okuni. She was really sad. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you guys."

"But we were supposed to do so much stuff together. We all even promised each other," Okuni said, as them three hugged and tears began coming down their faces.

"I'm sorry," she told them. They cried softly and everyone was sad. Mrs. Nohime began crying to herself. She was sad that she wasn't gonna see one of her favorite students anymore. Naotora then wiped away her tears and smiled.

"Don't be sad. I just want everyone to have a great time. It's a potluck party. They're meant for people to be happy, okay?" she told everyone and they decided to just have a good time.

"Damn, Toshiie. You should've given her a chance. Now it's too late and she's moving on, leaving you behind. You wouldn't accept what god offered you so now he's giving it to someone else," Kiyomasa told him, laughing. Sakon was hella laughing about what Kiyomasa said.

"Hey, she's leaving, but if she were to come back, it was meant to be," Sakon added in and they laughed so much, especially Keiji.

"At least Toshiie won't be getting to plan to kidnap you anymore, Naotora," Ina told Naotora and they laughed. Toshiie shook his head. Everyone was listening to their conversations.

"When will you ever learn? I would never think about kidnapping her because she's nothing more than bad luck to me. Good thing she's moving, because she's just a stupid girl," Toshiie said, not meaning it. He only said that because he didn't want anyone to suspect he felt a bit sad that he won't be seeing her anymore.

"Me stupid? Then why is that every time I'm in some kind of trouble or need help, you're always the one coming? Who was the one who helped take me to my parent's room in the hospital? Who was the one who wiped my blood away when I got punched? Who was the one who came and helped me when the guys were running after us? Who was the one who saved me from the pair of flying scissors? Oh yeah, it was all you. Who's the stupid one now?" Naotora replied to him and everyone began laughing so much.

"Ooh! Damn, Toshiie, you got burned!" the guys' in the class were saying. He felt a bit of embarrassment. She was just laughing and then Toshiie got up. He grabbed her wrist and took her out of the classroom…

Toshiie took me to an area where no one was at. He put me against the wall and placed his hands on the wall by my shoulders. I looked down, not knowing what to do. _Uh oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that. Nah, it's not like we're gonna see each other anymore and I was just expressing what I thought._ He came down and eye leveled with me. It made me feel uncomfortable.

"What are you doing? Why'd you take me out of the class?" I asked him, trying to leave back but he pulled me back against the wall. I looked at him.

"What made you say that to everyone?" he asked me.

"Well, it's the last day I'm gonna see you and you're always calling me stupid and everything so I just decided to get back at you," I replied to him and he laughed a bit.

"So strong willed towards me now. Does that mean you've gotten over me? You no longer feel anything towards me anymore?" he questioned and I nodded my head.

"Mm hmm, I have. I have accepted reality and so I no longer like you that way," he told him, not meaning it but I sounded serious. He then half smiled at me. _Gosh, he makes me so nervous when he smiles like that. Why do I feel so shaky again? Why am I feeling butterflies in my tummy again? _I can feel his breathing because he was close to me.

"You sure about that, Naotora?" he asked me and I nodded my head. Unexpectedly, he came close and pressed his lips against mines! My eyes widened in shock and I gasped internally._ Toshiie's kissing me! I never thought he would ever do this! What should I do?_ He pulls me close to him but he is still pressing his lips onto mines and hugs my back. The bell soon rang and he finally stopped. I blinked a few times, wondering if this was actually happening. "Didn't think so. Eight years Naotora. It's gonna take much longer to get over me." I was feeling an overwhelming sense of shyness._ Why did he kiss me? I thought he hated me!_ Feeling shy of Toshiie now, I ran back to class…

Toshiie kissed her because he did kinda like her now but he wasn't gonna see her anymore. Now he doesn't have any regrets. He smiled a bit once Naotora got so shy of him and ran back to class. He knew she still liked him. He then walked back into class too…

I was running to class and once I was by the door, I stopped running. I touched my lips, still very surprised by his sudden movement. I couldn't help but kinda smile and laugh to myself._ How am I gonna tell Ina and Okuni?_ The door swung open and out came Ina and Okuni. They turned to me.

"Oh, you're here. I was beginning to think Toshiie kidnapped you," Ina said and I began laughing. Okuni and Ina joined me in laughing too. I turned and saw Toshiie coming. I began feeling shy all over again. I looked down and sucked in my bottom lip._ I can't even look at him right now._ He walked past us and went inside the classroom. I tried to not think about it, but it kept playing in my head over and over again, making me smile and laugh to myself. Ina and Okuni were just looking at me.

"What's got you smiling and laughing to yourself, Naotora? Is there something we should know?" Okuni asked me, smiling. Ina and Okuni then took me off to the bathroom.

"Tell us where he took you," Ina said. There was no one in the bathroom but us.

"Well he took me to a dark area and was asking me if I no longer felt anything towards him and stuff and I said I didn't and then…," I began, trailing off.

"And then what happened?" they both asked me.

"He… Kissed me," I told them, smiling and they both gasped and smiled.

"He did?" they asked again and I smiled and nodded my head.

"You can't tell anyone about it, okay?" I told them and they nodded their heads. They promised to not tell. They were really happy for me but it's too bad I was moving too. "It sucks that I'm moving too."

"I know! You two probably had a chance together. Naotora, you have to come back here soon!" Ina exclaimed and I nodded my head. We hugged each other again and the bell rang for the next period class. We came out of the bathroom and went to get our stuff from Mrs. Nohime's class.

After school, my friends and I hung out for the last time before I officially moved. We went to bowling, eat out, and just hung out until it was eleven at night. My parents and I are leaving at three in the morning. Our parents came to pick us up and we said our final goodbyes before departing.


	3. Chapter 3

*** This chapter is mainly about the Naotora in the new city. It may seem rushed but I'm just trying to get to the real main story of this, which is chapter 5 ***

When we arrived at our new house, it was a big white modern two story house with a pool in the backyard. It was around four in the afternoon when we reached. I was tired but we had to begin unpacking. We didn't have a whole lot of stuff so we finally finished settling in the home at nine. My room was plain white so I decorated them with stickers and put my guitar and violin on the wall. My piano was located downstairs in the living room. I put glow in the dark stars on the ceiling of my room too. I had a bathroom in my room and a medium sized walk in closet.

Once I finished my room, I went to go take a shower. After that, I went downstairs to help my mom cook dinner. We made some yangnyeom tongdak, also known as seasoned fried chicken in English. When we ate, it was really yummy.

I washed the dishes before going to bed. I got in the covers and wondered what my friends are doing. I really missed them already and I can't believe that I was actually in a new place. I was so not used to it. I thought about Toshiie and how he kissed me. It made me smile and I wished that I could go back one day. I then closed my eyes and went to sleep.

On the first day of my new school, everyone was so different. There were lots of different races. Unlike my old school, there were only a little bit of Asians. I was wearing a lavender sleeveless plaid like shirt only except it doesn't have the patters on it and tucked it under a flowery high waist short with a pair of lavender high top converse. I also waved my hair too. I carried a cute owl shoulder bag and wore a matching necklace with it.

"Have fun on your first day of school, Naotora. Hopefully things are better here," my mom told me and I nodded my head. We said our goodbyes and I came out of the car. I waved goodbye to her and she sis the same before driving off. I looked at the school and there were many people all around. I made my way towards the gate and there were many people waiting to get through. I wondered why it was taking so long.

I waited for literally ten minutes and I seemed like I wasn't going anywhere. I was getting impatient because I needed to find my classes and I wasn't even inside yet. I then got out of line and began climbing on the gates so I can quickly get inside. Many people turned to me.

"Oh shit, an Asian chick be climbing to get through," I heard a Mexican guy saying and they were laughing, "Her body is hella fine. I bet she ugly as hell." They laughed some more as I reached the top. The gate wasn't very high so I just jumped off the gate and landed on my two feet. "Damn, she aint afraid of heights." _How dumb of him to keep making comments about me. Oh well, now to find my classes._

I walked inside the school and began searching for my classes. When I was walking, I saw black people everywhere and Mexican people too. _Wow, doesn't this school have any Asians? I hardly saw any._ While I was walking, I saw two Chinese girls sitting down reading some library books and five guys came to bother them. There were two black guys, a white guy, and two Spanish guys.

"Hey Fifi, you wanna show off some of your tai chi skills to us?" a Spanish guy said to her as she stopped reading her book and turned to him.

"My name is not Fifi, it Phoebe," she replied with a very thick Chinese accent. Many people laughed at her. _Why are they laughing? It's not even funny._ I didn't understand why but I continued walking.

As I was walking, I took a nice stretch and accidentally hit a light skinned black guy on the back of the head. He quickly turned and with an angry face. I stopped and turned to him.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry," I told him, and his angry face turned into a smile.

"It's all good. I'd be mad but since you're pretty, I'll let you off. Damn, your eyes are really nice. So, are you new to this school? I've never seen you before," he replied to me. I nodded my head and smiled. _Wow, he just called me pretty, not that I like him or anything._

"Yeah, I'm new to this city. I just moved during the summer," I told him. I looked at my schedule and searched for my first period class, which was dancing. This school was different because it didn't require a core class. There are a lot of classes to choose from but classes given are Science, Math, P.E., and English/History. For my extra classes, I took dancing and guitar. "Well, imma go find my classes."

"Alright, see you whenever. By the way, I'm Jeirome. What's your name?" he asked me.

"My name is Naotora Ii," I told him and he smiled.

"Naotora, that's a nice name. I gotta make sure to remember that," Jeirome said and I smiled. I then began walking off in search of my classes again.

When I was walking, I saw a bit more Asians and most of them were being picked on. I thought the students in the school were really messed up. There were a lot of people being shoved around by the big jock guys so it wasn't just Asian people who were being bullied. _Never in my whole life have I seen such meanies before! _

Once I found all my classes, I began walking around again. When I turned the corner, I bumped into Jeirome again. He turned to me and smiled.

"Hey, it's you again. Naotora, right?" he asked and I nodded my head and smiled back at him, "So, have you found your classes yet?"

"Yeah, I have. I'm just walking around now," I replied to him. He asked me to hang out with him and his friends so I decided to because he seemed like a really nice guy so far. When we went to his friends, there were three other guys and three girls. They all turned to us when we came. There were two Spanish guys, a white guy, a white girl, a Mexican girl, and a black girl.

"Hey, wassup Jerome? Ooh, damn lil' shawty. Who are you?" the Spanish guy said to me. I just smiled at him.

"This is Naotora. She just moved into this city in the summer," Jeirome told them. They told me their names were Ray, Charlie, Jude, Julianne, Andreiyaa, and Asia.

"Oh my god, your eyes are so beautiful! Are you just wearing contacts on one eye?" Julianne asked me. I wasn't trying to be mean or anything but she seemed like the type of blonde girl who gets confused a lot. I laughed and shook my head.

"No, I was born with it, and thank you. You have pretty eyes too," I replied to her and she smiled when I said that.

"So, are you like Chinese or something?" Andreiyaa asked me and I shook my head.

"I'm twenty five percent Chinese, twenty five percent Japanese, and fifty percent Japanese," I told them and they were amazed.

"Wow, well you're definitely the first mixed Asian we've met. Most of the Asians here are Chinese. There are no Korean people here besides you and there's a bit of Japanese people," Jude told me.

We were talking, getting to know more about each other and they seemed really nice. They told me where they hang out at and to go there at break and lunch. The bell soon rang and we all departed and went to class…

Toshiie, Keiji, Kiyomasa, and Sakon all met up with each other on their first day in high school. There were lots of hot girls, and there were many cute girls too. They were all walking around for fun.

"Dang, these girls are looking fine," Keiji said, smiling and looking at all the girls. They all agreed but Toshiie was thinking about Naotora and who she's doing. He still can't believe there is no more Naotora and the thought of that kinda saddened him.

"Hi," so many girls told him but he ignored them, which made them want to be around Toshiie more. For some reason, there were so many girls following them around school. It seemed like they were already the most popular guys in school. His friends loved the attention but Toshiie didn't care about them. He wasn't interested, as usual.

They finally went to go sit down on a bench and he thought about the last day of school how he kissed her and she was so shy of him.

Toshiie was carrying his guitar because he always played the guitar. This year, he is taking guitar class. He was bored and decided that he was gonna play his guitar for fun. He began playing the song "Crush" by David Archuleta. When he was playing it, so many girls were smiling and watching him play the guitar.

"Oh, he is so dreamy," a girl said, placing her right hand on her forehead and then fainting. When she was on the ground, a guy was walking and accidentally stepped on her stomach as she opened her eyes really wide and stuck out her tongue. Keiji and Sakon began laughing so hard. Kiyomasa tried to be nice and not laugh but hearing his friends laugh made him begin laughing too.

"Ew, what the hell is that?" cried Keiji, laughing so hard. Toshiie wasn't gonna laugh but because his friends kept laughing and the vision of the girl doing that made him laugh. He shook his head because she just embarrassed herself. He stopped playing the guitar because he lost concentration from laughing and he forgot which part he was on.

"So, who were you dedicating that to?" Kiyomasa asked him as he turned to Kiyomasa, wondering why he asked that question. He was just playing it for fun and he wasn't even dedicating it to anyone.

"Nobody, why do you ask?" Toshiie replied to him. Kiyomasa looked at him suspiciously and then began laughing for some reason. He began wondering why he was laughing for a while and then he thinks he knows why. "No, Kiyomasa, it not was dedicated for Naotora." Keiji and Sakon turned to him hella fast.

"What about Naotora? You were dedicating the song to her?" Sakon said, as Toshiie shook his head.

"What the hell? No I wasn't," he replied to them.

"I bet you were secretly," Keiji told him and he shook his head, "Come on, just say you like her, Toshiie. I'm sure you miss seeing her."

"Yeah, right. I don't like her and I don't miss her," Toshiie lied, hiding away his feelings. Kiyomasa seemed suspicious of something.

"So, how'd you know I was thinking Naotora?" Kiyomasa asked him.

"Because you guys always claim I liked Naotora, which I don't," Toshiie replied.

"Yeah you do!" Keiji shouted and they began laughing so much.

"No I don't," he replied, thinking about her for a while. In his head, he saw her looking at him, smiling and her eyes were twinkling in a very beautiful way. The bell rang and then they all headed into class.

Ina and Okuni barely came to school and met each other. They couldn't believe Naotora won't be with them this year and from then on. They were both sitting down and saw many new faces, which were sixth graders.

"I miss last year, when Naotora was still here, but I'm at least glad you're still here," Ina told Okuni and she agreed.

"Yeah, let's really hope we don't move or anything," Okuni replied and they promised, "Any anyways, Naotora wouldn't have wanted us to be sad she moved."

"Yeah, let's hope this year will go by fast and go by great," Ina replied and then the bell rang for class.

"Come on, let's go to class," Okuni said and they began walking to their first period class together…

It's been a week since school began and Jeirome they have all been very welcoming to me. They showed me around school and everything and even showed me where places are. The one who talks to me the most is Jeirome though. I think he's pretty good looking for a light skinned black guy but I still liked Toshiie much more. I kinda have a feeling that he likes me but I could be wrong too. The outfit I wore today was a Magenta long sleeve shirt with a black short with boots that had shoe laces like sneaker shoes. I also wore long socks that went up halfway up my thighs. I used a brown bag and left my hair curled.

We were at school during morning time just sitting down and hanging out with each other. I was sitting down with the girls and wondered how Ina and Okuni are doing and if they miss me like how I miss them. Jeirome was the last to come and he came to me. He smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Hey, Naotora, listen, can I talk to you for a bit alone?" he asked. _I wonder what's up._ I nodded my head and got up. The both of us were walking for a bit. "So, how do you like this school?" I thought about it for a bit. I did like it but I hated the bullies.

"I like it but I just hate all the bullying here," I replied to him.

"Oh, you don't like bullies?" he asked me and I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I don't like them. To me, I think they think they are very cool and bullying the weaker people makes them feel powerful. I just don't get it, like what are they trying to prove, you know? Bullying people doesn't prove that you're stronger than them. It just proves how weak they truly are," I replied to him and for a moment there, I think I caught him hesitating. _If he hesitated, does that mean he could be a bully too? No, that can't be, because he's been nice._ "You're not a bully, are you?" He shook his head and then smiled.

"Nah, I'm not. But well said, Naotora. You know, I think you're a really pretty and unique girl. I've never met someone like you before," Jeirome told me, and I smiled.

"Thanks, I think you're a nice person," I replied and he looked down for a while before looking back at me.

"I really like you, Naotora, more than just a friend," Jeirome confessed to me. I was shocked to hear. Never in my whole life have I ever thought a guy would confess his feelings to me._ Wow, he likes me, more than a friend so that means he likes me like a girlfriend, right? But I only like him as a friend. I still have feelings for Toshiie._ I wasn't sure how to explain to a friend that I only like him as a friend. I can't believe he's already confessing to me too because it's only been a week since I met him and I still don't know much about him. Before I knew it, he leaned down to kiss me. _Oh no, I can't let him do it because if I do, I'm only gonna lead him on and I don't want that. _My parents will never allow me to date a black guy too so either way, we can't be together. I turned the other way and he stopped.

"I'm sorry, Jeirome. I only think of you as a friend of mines. I already like someone else," I told him as the bell rang. Jeirome seemed so disappointed. I knew how he felt, because I've been rejected before too. "I'm gonna go to class." I quickly left and went to my first period class, which was P.E. and I went to my number, which was number twenty._ I think rejecting him is gonna affect our relationship_. _I feel bad but I don't want to date someone I'm not in love with._

"Alright, class. Today we will be doing working out in the gym, so go get switched," Mr. Jackson commanded. Everyone walked into the locker room. I didn't like how our lockers were co-ed together but there's nothing I can do. I put my bag in my locker and took my P.E. clothes out. It was a t shirt that has been customized to have the sleeves cut off all the way down to our hips and our shorts were just like volleyball shorts except the guys got regular shorts. _I wonder why girls don't have those shorts and instead these really short shorts._

I took off my short and put my shirt away. I then turned and looked up ahead. There was a really dark black guy watching me. He was shaking his head slowly, while licking his lips. _Ew, what a pervert! _ I made a disgusted face and turned around so my back could face him. I quickly wore the shirt. I then took off my short and wore the volleyball short. Most girls kept their shirts out of the short but I tucked my shirt in my short because it was more comfortable for me. The volleyball was like a high waist short for me. I took off my socks and wore a new pair of black socks and put on my running shoe, which was a converse brand. I tied my hair up into a messy bun and used the long bands to help hold my hair in place. Many girls were watching me.

"She thinks she's the most stylish girl ever just because she is the only girl doing that style. What a freaken slut," I heard a girl say as I was leaving the locker room and many girls were laughing. I didn't care what they thought of me because I don't care about them either. I was walking down the mini hill while holding my hands together behind me when I noticed many guys staring at me.

"Shit, she's hot and pretty. She's the best looking Asian girl in our school and quite possibly the best looking girl in school," I heard a guy say.

"She got that body of a stripper though, I'd like to bone it," a black guy said, as his friends laughed._ What the heck? What does bone it mean?_ I reached my number and began stretching because the first thing we always did was run a lap around the basketball courts. I bent my body forward and then I heard more guys talking.

"Oh shit, she makes me horny!" a guy said and I stopped stretching and went to go sit down. I didn't like how they kept making those kinds of comments about me. I heard many girls talking crap about me but I still didn't care.

The teacher came out and we got on our numbers. He was marking down the people who were late. Pretty soon, everyone was here.

"Alright, take a lap around the basketball courts," he said and we all began running. I was only jogging but for some reason, I was beating everyone. A guy came next to me. He was a good looking white guy with blonde hair.

"Hey shawty, wanna race me back to our numbers?" he asked me. I didn't think there would be a problem with it.

"Okay, you're on," I replied, as we both began running faster. We both began running really fast and I stayed next to him to see how fast he could go. It seemed like this was as fast as he can go. "Is this the fastest you can go?"

"Why, can you go faster?" he asked me, panting and I laughed. I then ran off ahead and beat him to our numbers. I beat him by ten seconds but it wasn't my fastest still. When everyone came back, so many girls were talking crap about me.

"She's such a show off. She's hella seeking attention," a girl said. _I was so not seeking attention! I was just racing a guy. There's nothing wrong with that._ The teacher told us to get in pairs of two. Everyone began partnering up. Many guys began making way to me and I spotted an Asian guy. He was well very well built for a middle school guy. He and I were the only Asians in the class. _Maybe we'll get along since we're Asian._ I made my way past the guys and walked up to him. He turned to me and I smiled at him.

"Hi, do you wanna be my partner?" I asked cheerfully, as many guys watched.

"You don't wanna be his partner," a guy told me. I wondered why he said that. I shook my head and smiled.

"Sure I do," I replied, smiling.

"You really shouldn't. Jeirome wouldn't like that," another guy said._ What's wrong with being his partner anyways? And I'm sure he wouldn't say anything about it because he's a nice guy._ I was starting to think that the Asian guy didn't wanna be my partner, not that I really cared or anything. I turned to him.

"So you don't wanna be my partner? It's okay if you don't want to though," I told the Asian guy and he shook his head.

"No, I can be your partner," he replied and I smiled cheerfully.

"Okay then, we're partners," I replied to him, smiling.

"You're making a big mistake," sang a guy to me. I didn't care what he was saying. _How the heck am I making a mistake being his partner in class? It was so stupid. _I shook my head.

"I don't think I am," I replied to the guy and the teacher spoke to us again.

"Listen up, head over to the gym and begin working out," Mr. Jackson told us. I didn't know where it was at but I followed where my partner was going. I was walking next to him. He wasn't talking or anything so I decided to start a conversation.

"I'm Naotora Ii, what's your name?" I asked him, trying to be friendly to him.

"I'm Yue Jin," he replied. From his name, he was definitely Chinese, or at least I think he is.

"Oh, that's cool. So, you're Chinese, right?" I continued, and he nodded his head.

"Yeah, I am. What about you?" he replied.

"I'm Chinese too, but I'm also Japanese and Korean," I told him and he was surprised. He seemed like he was a really nice guy, by the way he talks.

We went inside the gym and there were lots of equipment to choose from. I looked at all of them, amazed at the sight. I can't believe that there are so many of them.

"Wow, this is a nice gym," I told him and he nodded his head, agreeing with me. I just smiled and took a deep breath. "So, which one do you wanna do?"

"It doesn't matter. You're the new one, so you choose," he replied. I nodded my head and walked to a treadmill that has two running thing combined on one machine. I have never seen that before. _I can't believe they really have a treadmill here. I thought they only have them in high school but I guess I was wrong._ I turned back to him. "How about this one?"

"God, I hate her, like she's trying to show off that she's athletic and shit," I heard a girl say but it went inside one ear and out the other. Yue Jin walked to me and got on the left one. I smiled and went to the one on the right. He turned it on and looked at me.

"What level do you want me to put it on?" he asked me and I thought about it. There were ten levels and I didn't want to run too fast or I'll use up all my energy on this and I wanna have a chance to do the other ones too.

"Um, I'm thinking a five, that way we'll still be able to lift weights and do squats and the other ones. Is that alright with you?" I replied to him and he nodded his head. He put it on a five and the machine began. It was going slow at first but then it went faster, making us begin jogging. I needed this exercise so my leg can get stronger because it's been through a lot. We did a lot more work outs and I got to know Yue Jin better and I thought he was a really nice guy.

At lunch, I went to go use the bathroom. When I came out, I decided to take the long way to my friends I hung out with. As I was walking, I saw a really big crowd watching something.

"Ooh! Punch him in the face! Fuck that nigga up!" yelled a black guy, enjoying whatever it was that he was watching. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. _People can be so inconsiderate and cruel. I'm glad I don't hang out with those kinds of people._ I was gonna leave like how I always do when I see people get bullied but the crowd was really big. It's the biggest crowd I've seen when people watch other people bully._ Maybe I should just check it out one time to see what's really going on._ I held on to my bag and began walking to the crowd. I wanted to get a close look so I was pushing my way in. when I was among the front people, I am shocked what I see.

I saw Jeirome shove Yue Jin!_ What is going on? Why is Jeirome bullying? He told me he wasn't one._

"Come on, big boy, let me see what you got," Jeirome said to Yue Jin, shoving him as everyone was laughing.

"I'm not gonna fight you. I didn't come here to start drama or fight anyone," Yue Jin replied, as Jeirome socked his chest. Jeirome was acting like he was boxing with someone. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Fight me, you pussy ass cunt! You fucken Asian people are stupid. Go back to where you belong. Come on, fight me!" Jeirome continued and Yue Jin shook his head. You _Asian people are stupid? Go back to where you belong? I can't believe he just said that!_ It really offended me too, because I was Asian as well. I was so mad at him!

"Why are you even contradicting yourself? And didn't you hear me? I told you already. I'm not gonna fight you," Yue Jin replied, as Jeirome laughed and turned the other way. Then he turned back to Yue Jin and punched Yue Jin really hard and he fell down. I gasped and in between them.

"Stop, what are you doing?" I yelled to Jeirome, being so mad at him. Yue Jin's mouth began bleeding.

"Move aside, Naotora, I'm not done with him yet," he replied to me. I just looked at him and shook my head._ I'm such a fool, thinking a guy like Jeirome would never bully people. I can see I was wrong big time._

"I can't believe you would do this," I told him, going to Yue Jin. I took out some napkin and carefully wiped away Yue Jin's blood on his mouth. "Are you alright, Yue Jin?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks," he replied. Just then, Jeirome pulls me away from Yue Jin really hard and I hated it.

"Don't fucken help him! You're supposed to be my friend and be on my side!" yelled Jeirome, super pissed because I was helping Yue Jin. I had an angry face and pulled away hard as he let go of my wrist.

"Yeah? Well our friendship ends now. You said you weren't a bully and you knew I didn't like bullies but you did it anyways," I told him and Jerome scoffed.

"So you're ending our friendship because I'm a bully?" Jeirome asked.

"Yes, I am but that's not the only reason why. You disrespected not only Yue Jin, but you also disrespected me as well. You said Asians were stupid and guess what? I'm Asian myself too and you knew that. If they were so stupid like you said, then why did you confess to me in the morning huh?" I questioned him.

"I wasn't even referring to you," replied Jeirome. I thought it was so pathetic of him to even say that.

"Whatever, I'm done here. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other anymore," I replied to him and went off to Yue Jin and helped him up. I gave him another napkin and he took it and wiped his blood. "Come on, you need to go to the nurse's office." I took Yue Jin and began walking off from Jerome and the big crowd. When we were walking, Yue Jin was the first to speak.

"You didn't have to help me out. Those guys are always gonna bother me," Yue Jin told me._ So this isn't the first time he was bullied by Jeirome? I can't believe I was friends with a bully! Ugh! They make me so mad!_

"I can't stand people who bully! I can't believe Jerome is a bully and for the fact that he LIED to me that he wasn't when he was and better yet he still confesses to me," I told him and he bursted out laughing and tried not to laugh. I turned to him. "I'm serious."

"So you're really not gonna be friends with him anymore?" Yue Jin asked and I nodded my head. We may have hung out for a week, but they aren't exactly the best of friends of mines.

"I don't want any bully friends," I told him. He looked down for a bit and then back at me. I smiled at him.

"I guess I misjudged you. I assumed you were a bully too because you hung out with them but I see now that you're different from them. I'm sorry I judged you by who you hung out with," Yue Jin told me sincerely.

"That's okay," I told him cheerfully, "But now I'm friendless. Oh well, better to be alone than be with bullies."

"I'm friendless too. You can hang with me, that's if you want to but I won't force you to," Yue Jin replied to me.

"Are you okay with me hanging out with you?" I asked and he laughed.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Why wouldn't I be?" he replied and we reached the nurse's office.

The next day, I wore a sky blue t shirt with a shortall and a pair of vans. I used a cute teddy bear backpack and made my hair slightly curled. I slanted my China bangs a bit more to the right.

I went inside the school. I was walking around and I saw Yue Jin walking up ahead. When I saw him, he also saw me too. We both smiled at each other and I walked over to him. He walked over to me too so we met halfway.

"Hi," we both said in unison and then laughed.

"Hey, Naotora," Yue Jin tells me.

"Good morning," I replied to him and we both began walking together and we sat down on a bench together.

"How do you like the school? It's not all that great, huh?" he asked me and I nodded my head. _It's actually worse than I thought. There are so many bullies and they pick on so many people. It doesn't even make them look cool either._

"I like the school, but I don't like most of the students because they're bullies," I replied to him and he just smiled. He told me that there are so many bullies and he learned to just ignore them and not give them the reaction they want. He also told me that if people stand up to them or anything, they will enjoy picking on them. "Wow, that's just cruel. At least for bullies, they need their friends there and the person being bullied is all alone."

"Yeah, you're right," he replied to me. I agreed. _Yue Jin kind of reminds me of Toshiie. I wonder if he plays guitar. I should ask him. _

"Hey, you look like a guy I knew back at my old town. Just wondering, do you know how to play any musical instruments?" I questioned and he just laughed.

"Hm, I'm learning how to play the guitar. We're in the same guitar class, remember?" he replied and I gasped and covered my mouth, surprised he was in my guitar class. I didn't even notice!

"Oh, you are? I didn't notice you in there," I replied to him, laughing. He laughed too.

"I'm still new at it so I'm not really good yet. We have math, guitar, P.E., and English history together," Yue Jin told me.

"Really? I asked and he nodded his head. I just laughed it off because I seriously didn't know he was in that many of my classes. "I know how to play guitar. I can teach you how to play sometimes, if you like," I told him and he nodded his head.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks, Naotora," he replied to me and I just smiled. Suddenly, Jeirome pops out of nowhere.

"Oh, so the guy you said you like is only this nigga? He is my enemy, which makes him your enemy too. Why are you even hanging out with him? You're supposed to come hang with us," Jeirome said. I shook my head. _Did he not remember what I told him yesterday? I told him our friendship was over already._

"I don't even know what you're talking about and anyways, I can hang out with whoever I want. No one should be choosing who I can or can't hang out with. Also, I told you that I no longer have anything to do with you. I don't want to be friends with bullies," I replied to him, crossing my arms and turning the other way._ I think this is why my old friends and I don't have any guys that hang out with us. It's because we didn't want the guy to like one of us but we don't feel the same and they are only gonna be hurt in the end._ Jerome turned to Yue Jin.

"You fucken bitch ass nigga, why you fucken talking to her, huh? You punk, I'll fight you for her. If I win, you stay away from her and she hangs with me again but if I lose, you can have her," Jeirome sad, grabbing Yue Jin's shirt and pulling him up and punching his face. Yue Jin fell down. I got mad because I am not some kind of competition and I don't tolerate against bullying.

"Stop it, Jeirome!" I shouted angrily and shoved him away from Yue Jin. I went to Yue Jin. "Are you okay, Yue Jin?" I helped him back up and Jerome looked so angry. I didn't like this Jerome at all. He was so not the Jeirome I used to know. "You are so immature. You're gonna fight for me so I'll go to you? What am I? A toy?" I rolled my eyes and took Yue Jin off as the bell rang for first period.

Four quick months passed by and Yue Jin and I are really good friends. Jerome has been bugging us nonstop about the same thing and I think he's just trying to find an excuse to hurt Yue Jin. Many people bug us but we don't give them the reaction they want. It was afterschool and we were walking to his house.

We were partners for our math class and we had to build a bridge and it has to very accurate. Today Yue Jin seemed very happy today. It was also a Friday too._ I wonder what's gotten him so happy today._

"You're in a very good mood. What are you happy about?" I questioned him.

"I'm just happy that a very close cousin of mines is coming over," he replied and I was happy for him. I nodded my head. "I haven't seen him for six months."

"That's good, well at least you're gonna see him again," I replied cheerfully as we reached his house. It was a regular one story house that was white.

"We're here. Sorry, it's not the best house but it's something. Come inside," Yue Jin told me, walking to the front door.

"No, it's okay. It's a nice one story house," I replied to him, walking after him. He opened the door and we went inside the house. No one was home and he led me inside his room. It was very neat and clean. "Wow, nice room."

"Thanks," he replied. We took out our stuff to make the bridge. We were trying to finish it today so that the glue can harden by the time its due. We could only use a hundred Popsicle sticks, but she didn't say we could cut them up into shapes or anything and that's what we were planning to do.

We worked on it all the way until night time and we finished. We were both feeling so accomplished and happy.

"I'm gonna go switch my shirt really quick. I'll be right back," Yue Jin tells me and I nodded my head. He takes a shirt and heads out of his room and into the bathroom. When he left, it became all quiet and everything. I got up and decided to look around. I scanned the room slowly and spotted an album sticking out of underneath his bed. I didn't want to be nosy but I just wanted to quickly look what it was. I picked it up and opened it to the first page. It was a picture of a cross with a halo and it had wings too. It was more like tattoo artwork. I thought it was really cool and nice. I found myself looking through them. I got to look at fifteen of them.

"Wow, this is amazing," I told myself.

"Thanks," Yue Jin said from behind as I got scared and flinched, dropping the album. I turned to him and he laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's alright. Sorry for being nosy. I was only gonna look at one but then I really liked it so I kept looking at it," I told him, looking down. He walked and picked it up and just smiled.

"It's okay. This is just some tattoo designs I made for my cousin to look at. He's taught me how to do tattoos professionally. When my cousin comes, he's gonna teach me how to do pierces. About the tattoo designs, I was gonna test it out on a piece of raw pork skin, but I've tried and it doesn't work well," he told me, laughing and I joined him in laughing too. I then had an idea._ I wonder how I would look with tattoos. It'll be something new for me._

"If you need something better, you can try it on me, if you want," I offered to him and he was surprised. I then laughed about it. "I mean, if it doesn't work well on raw pork skin, you can try the tattoo on me. I wouldn't mind."

"You're not afraid of needles?" Yue Jin asked me and I shook my head. _He has no idea what I've been through. It's much worse than needles going in and out of my skin._

"No, I'm not. Trust me, the needles are nothing compared to what happened to me. I've got bullets in myself, large pieces of glass on my thigh like three times I think, and almost died two times," I told him and he was really shocked.

"Damn, that's harsh. But yeah, I'll try it on you. My cousin will be here tomorrow so if you wanna come tomorrow and we'll give it a try. Just wondering, did you want any piercings? I'll ask my cousin to do the pierces," Yue Jin replied and I smiled and nodded my head.

"Yeah, sure. I wouldn't mind. I should probably go home," I told him because it was ten at night. He nodded his head. I called my mom and she came to pick me up. When she came, he walked me outside. "See you tomorrow, Yue Jin." He smiled.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," he replied. I walked to my mom's car and went inside. She began driving off and I waved goodbye at him and he did the same. I then saw him go back home and my mom took us back home.

The next day came and my mom dropped me off at Yue Jin's house. The garage was open and there was a guy there. I'm assuming that he was Yue Jin's cousin but I didn't see Yue Jin there. I got out of the car and my mom drove off. I made my way to the guy. He turned to me and I smiled at him.

"Hi, is Yue Jin here?" I asked and he smiled.

"Yeah, he went inside to get something. You must be Naotora, right? you're gonna get tested on with his tattoo designs," he said smiling. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, and you must be his cousin," I replied to him.

"I'm Yue Wei," he told me. The door opened and out came Yue Jin. He turned to me and smiled at me and did the same.

"Hey, Naotora, you're here. So, are you ready to some pain?" Yue Jin said, smiling. I laughed.

"Yeah, it can't be that bad," I replied and they had me lay down on one of those seats just like the ones you see at the dentist. Yue Jin handed me the album.

"So which one did you want?" he asked me and I looked through it and I liked a lot of them. I wasn't sure which one I should get. I looked down and then back at him.

"I don't know. I like a lot of them and it's hard for me to choose. Maybe I'll just do eenie meenie meini mo," I told him and he began laughing a lot. His cousin Yue Wei laughed too.

"When I like more than one, I usually just get them all on different places," Yue Wei told me. _Is he trying to say I should get them all on different parts of myself?_ _How would I look like covered in tattoos? I probably would look like a bad girl but it's really pretty._

"Okay, I'll do that too," I replied to them. I wanted the nice looking cross one on my top stomach and a really pretty diamond surrounded by flowers and stars on my lower stomach. I told them that and they got the stuff ready. I saw the needle and it looked scary, but I didn't say anything about it.

"This is gonna hurt like hell," Yue Wei told me and I took a deep breath. I had to lift my shirt up for them to do the tattoo. Yue Jin was doing the cross tattoo, and Yue Wei was doing the diamond with flowers and stars.

It was then that I began to feel it on my stomach and it did hurt, but it wasn't very painful. It just felt like needles slightly poking my stomach. While they were tatting me, I was deciding where to put the other ones. I wanted the tulips tattoo with a butterfly in the middle and on top it has a ribbon with the words "Dance Love Sing Live" on my chest and there was a nice music symbol that is in the middle of a heart and on half of the heart, it's made up of words "music is the sound of life" and the lines where you put music notes on is behind the picture. I decided to get it on the side of my right neck. There were pretty angel wings and I wanted it on my back. On my right side of my stomach, I wanted the nice cheetah print ad my left side, I wanted my name going down vertically. On my lower back, I wanted a lunar moon that had stars and line shape decorations on it. On my left leg, I wanted a lace like band on the middle of my thighs and on my front right leg, I wanted a dream catcher. On my wrist, I wanted the letters "NIO" which stood for Naotora, Ina, and Okuni.

It took literally from ten in the morning until three to get it all done. I was feeling some pain, but it wasn't as bad. I looked at them from the mirror and it was all red around the tattoos._ Wow, it looks really nice! I like how it looks._

"Alright, so are you ready for pierces?" Yue Jin asked me, and I nodded my head, smiling. His cousin Yue Wei took out a big long needle with a pair of scissor like things only except the ends are circled.

"Alright, I'm gonna teach you how to dimple, lip, collar, belly and hip pierce. You're okay with those pierces on you, right?" Yue Wei said to the both of us. I nodded my head. He then smiled. "Alright, I'm teaching you how to do shark bites on the lips. They're all pretty easy to do." _Wow, that's a lot of pierces but it'll totally change my look._

Yue Wei was telling Yue Jin what to do for the pierces, using me as an example like when he was talking about pierces, he would point close to that area. He was really good at explaining it to Yue Jin.

"Alright, I think I'm ready for this," Yue Jin told his cousin and his cousin looked at him all weird.

"What are you, nuts? You might mess it up, since it'll be your first try," Yue Wei told Yue Jin and he laughed, "Maybe I should do it all so it'll be safer."

"Then how will I be able to learn?" Yue Jin asked as Yue Wei thought for a bit. He told Yue Jin that he was right so now they were gonna test it out on me. _It's a really scary feeling but I have to be brave. I'm sure they'll be careful and not mess up on them. Oh well, even if they do, it's my own fault for volunteering. At least they got the tattoos done really well so I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. _They began piercing my dimples and it seriously hurt but I can take the pain. I made a slight impression that it hurt and Yue Jin looked at me.

"Does it hurt?" he asked me and I nodded my head.

"It does but I can manage the pain," I replied, as they were putting a teal diamond pierce in the hole.

"You must be strong. Most girls I've seen always scream really loud or cry," Yue Wei told me and I nodded my head as they got ready to do the other side.

"I managed to escape two deaths, if that's what you mean," I replied and he began laughing along with Yue Jin. I laughed too and then they gave me the other dimple pierce and it hurt too.

Since they were being careful, they finished giving me the pierces at five. They gave me two dimple pierces, shark bite pierces, two collar pierces on each collarbone, a belly pierce, and three hip pierces on each hip. It was painful but I could take the pain.

We were inside his room when I saw a yearbook of the school._ Ooh, I wanna look at it!_

"Hey Yue Jin, may I look at the yearbook, please?" I asked him and he nodded his head. I smiled and grabbed it. I sat down on the floor criss crossing while Yue Jin and Yue Wei were playing call of duty black ops. I opened the yearbook and began looking at it. I saw Yue Jin's picture and he really looked like Toshiie. _I miss seeing Toshiie and Ina and Okuni. I wanna go back so much but as much as I want to, I can't. Hm, I wonder how Jeirome and the others look like._ I flipped to the seventh grade section and went searched for their yearbook picture. I found all of them, except for Asia._ I wonder why I can't find Asia's picture. Maybe she was new this year too._ I flipped it to the next page and I saw a picture of her, only except her name wasn't Asia! Her name was Laquanda._ What? She said her name was Asia and that's what everyone calls her. I'm so confused._ I decided to ask Yue Jin about it but I waited for them to finish playing first. "Yue Jin, how come Asia's name is Laquanda in this yearbook? Did she switch her name?" Yue Jin began laughing. He shook his head.

"No, that's her real name. She makes everyone call her Asia because she hates her name. Anyone who calls her by her real name will get beat by the guys in her group," Yue Jin told me and my mouth dropped open. _Seriously? People get jumped if they call her by her real name? That is so immature! They are such mean people. I can't believe I even hung out with them too!_

"That is so cruel! That just makes me dislike them even more," I told him and he just laughed. It was already nine at night and I decided that I should get going now because it was getting pretty late. "I should call my mom to pick me up since it's getting late."

"Yeah, sure," Yue Jin replied to him.

"I can take you home, if you want," Yue Wei offered.

"It's okay. I don't wanna be a burden to you," I replied but he insisted so I accepted his offer. We got in his car and he began driving me home. When reached my house, they were shocked at how big it was.

"Wow, you have a really nice house. You and your parents must be rich," Yue Jin told me and I shook my head and laughed.

"No, we're not really all that rich," I replied and we laughed it off. I got out of the car and thanked them. I got to the front of the house and waited for them to leave. After that, I went inside the house and my parents were eating. "I'm home." I put my bag down and I went to them.

"Come eat," my mom told me as she turned and saw how I looked like. She then gasped and stops eating. _Uh oh, maybe I should've asked them for permission first. _"Did you get pierces and tattoos at your friends house?" I nodded my head and my dad turns to me, hearing my mom sat tattoo and pierce.

"Do you guys… Like it?" I asked, feeling nervous, clasping my hands together.

"Do I like it?" my mom began, "I love it! Come eat and we'll talk about it." I smiled and felt much better. I went to go sit down and got a plate of food for myself. "Did your friend make sure to be very clean?"

"Yeah, his cousin helped out too. He's a professional tattoo and piercing artist," I replied to her, and she asked me which places. I showed her all of my tattoos and she really liked it, especially the hip pierce ad collar pierce.

"Hun, maybe I should go get it too," my mom told my dad and he shook his head, "Oh come on. Maybe the both of us should get it, yeah?" She was just being sarcastic and we had a good laugh. My dad then got serious with me.

"Naotora, don't go off being bad now that you have those tattoos and pierces, okay? Promise you'll remain sweet and innocent," my dad said and I nodded my head.

"I promise you both that I won't become bad. Besides, I had wonderful parents to teach me right from wrong," I replied and they smiled. We all ate and I washed the dishes, being careful not to make water touch my pierces. I had some things that are covering the tattoos. I had to leave them on. Once I finished, I showered and went to sleep.

On Monday morning, I got up and took off the things covering my tattoo and showered. I decided to wear a short going half an inch before the middle of my thighs. I wore a thin violet loose teen top that was laced in the back. The pair of shoes I wore was Nikes. I braided my hair from the top of my head and down and used a pink long hair band around my forehead area. My bangs were flipped more to the right.

Today I needed to bring my guitar so I used a pink shoulder bag and grabbed my guitar that had my name engraved on it. It was on the wall. It was a lavender electric acoustic guitar. I used the straps for it and wore it on my right shoulder. I put one of the guitar picks in my bag.

When I came to school, everyone was looking at me.

"Damn. She is hella sexy with those tattoos and piercings. I would go holla but she's already Jeirome's," a Spanish guy said and his guy friends agreed.

"She thinks she's so pretty now that she got those tats and piercings. What a freaken whore," a girl told her friends and they walked off.

"I heard that she went to Yue Jin's house and they had sex," a girl said, looking at me disgusted. _What the heck? That is so not true!_ I walked off and pretty soon, the only thing I could hear coming out of everyone's mouth was that I did it with Yue Jin, which I did not. _Who would make up such a nasty lie?_

I was walking when someone puts their hand on my shoulder. I turned around and it was Yue Jin. From the looks on his face, it seems like he's heard that stupid rumor too.

"Hey," he said to me. I smiled at him.

"Ew look at her talking to him. She only chose him over Jeirome because she likes it big and muscular. Such a freaken slut," a girl walking with her friends said. They were laughing at us and I just rolled my eyes. _Oh, so now I'm beginning to get bullied because I no longer hang out with Jeirome them? That is so dumb!_

"People are so dumb, making rumors about us. Seriously, how low can they go?" I told Yue Jin and we went to go sit down.

"Just don't care what they're trying to say. Remember, if you give them the reaction they want, they'll do it even more," Yue Jin told me. I nodded my head and calmed myself down. _I just won't give them the reaction they want. They can say all sorts of lies and they can laugh about it but in the end, it's us who will be laughing._

"Hey, Naotora, how would you like to give us free sex too? I'm craving for some," a black guy said. I continued talking to Yue Jin, as if I didn't hear him. I was telling him about the guitars and what each string represented. "Fucken slut, do you think you're too good to be having sex with non Asian guys?" I still didn't care and continued talking to Yue Jin. Because I wouldn't reply, they finally left.

"Wow, I can't believe it worked," I told Yue Jin, laughing. He laughed too. The bell rang and we went to the P.E. area. When we did, everyone was staring hard like an eagle. We both walked to our numbers.

"Those two over there had sex on Friday when she went to his house. There was no one home too," a girl told one of her friends and they laughed, "I know. I knew she was a slut or something because no girl can be that pretty and be a good girl."

"Yeah," her friend replied and they both walked off to their own teachers. I have never ever been bullied before and I hated the fact that I had a gut feeling like I was gonna begin getting bullied. _It is good that I was able to ignore that one guy, but I don't think I can continue it because I know I will snap one day and I don't want that._

When we were all switching, girls kept making bad comments about me, saying how I was such a slut and a hoe and a whore because my body and legs are curvy. I was doing my best to ignore. While the girls were making bad comments about me, guys were making perverted comments about me.

"Shit, her body always makes me horny. She should help please us too, not just that Yue Jin guy," a very cute Spanish guy said to his friends, making his way over to me when my shirt was off. "Hey, you wanna have sex with me too? I'm pretty big myself." I turned around and was about to put my shirt on until he grabbed onto my waist and I hated it. I used my right hand and pushed him away.

"Don't touch me," I told him. I quickly put on my shirt and tucked it in my shorts. I didn't mean to say it out loud but it just came out. Yue Jin turned to us and the Spanish guy smiled. He grabbed onto my waist again and held me against the locker and he pressed his body against mines. I tried to push him away but he didn't let. "Let go of me!" He then turned to Yue Jin.

"Hey, Yue Jin, mind if I borrow her tonight?" he said and his friends were laughing. I was trying to make him let go of me. Yue Jin put his shirt on and walked over to us.

"Let her go," Yue Jin said as many people gathered.

"Ooh, he's finally manning up!" a black guy shouted, smiling with joy.

"Oh yeah? What if I don't? You too pussy to do anything about it," he replied. I was getting mad because he wouldn't let go of me, not to mention that he was pushing in my hip pierce in. I finally pushed him hard and he backed up.

"Don't ever touch me again," I told him with attitude and he just laughed. He was gonna do it again, but then Yue Jin got in front of me. Mr. Jackson then came and got in between us.

"What's going on here?" Mr. Jackson said and everyone rushed away. The Spanish guy was just laughing.

"Nothing, we're just having a little conversation," he replied and went off. Mr. Jackson turned to us._ Yeah right, you liar. I bet you were trying to start a fight with Yue Jin using me as bait. What a dumb guy._

"You two alright?" he asked and we nodded our heads. We both walked out of the locker room and people continued blabbering about us and we didn't care because it wasn't even true. _People can keep talking crap because it's not gonna get them anywhere. It's only gonna make them go to hell when they die._

"Some people are so disrespectful and rude," I told Yue Jin and he agreed with me. Usually if something like this was to break out in my old school, Ina would be the one standing up for me but now she's not here and I need to learn how to take care of myself._ I miss you guys a lot. I wish you guys were here with me._

When it was lunch time, Yue Jin and I met up with each other and we were sitting down on the benches. We were just talking for fun, ignoring all the people who were talking smack about us. Yue Jin then told me he was gonna use the restroom really quick and he'll be right back. I just smiled and nodded my head. He then left and I was all alone. A few guys came to me.

'Hey, mama, would you like to get gang banged?" a black guy asked me. I was just looking down, ignoring him. "You ignoring me?" Again, I didn't say anything to him. He then slid his hand on my thighs and I moved his hand away. They began laughing. "Oh, you don't like it? Stop pretending. Everyone knows you had sex with Yue Jin."

"Don't touch me," I told him, getting up and starting to walk away. Another black guy then held my waist from behind and pulled me to his stomach. I tried to make him let go of me. "Stop! Let go of me, you pervert!"

"Stop trying to act like you're all innocent. I know you like it big and hard," he told me, and rubbed my stomach and I tried to make him stop.

"Stop doing that, you sicko! Let go of me before I get really angry!" I yelled and he didn't care. He just laughed it off.

"Get mad! I wanna see what you do. Are you gonna strap me to a bed and rape me hella hard? Because I would love it," he told me in my ear and my anger surpassed my limit. I shouldered his face hard and he let go of me.

"Ooh, Johnny!" his friends said, laughing so hard. His nose began bleeding. He wiped it away with a napkin.

"Oh hell no! This slutty ass is gonna get it!" he said to his friends, going to me. He grabbed my shoulders and tried to push me to the locker but I grabbed his shirt and turned over so he would hit the locker. I used force when he went against the locker. His friends were laughing so hard. Many people stopped to watch. "You little bitch!" He tried moving but I kept moving him right back to the locker.

"Ooh, Johnny. You gonna let this little slut beat you?" one of his friends shouted. That Johnny guy isn't all that strong for me. His strength is nothing compared to the guys I've fought. He was trying so hard to move me over but he couldn't.

"Listen up, Johnny boy, you better not touch my ever again!" I told him, looking at him in his eyes with such hatred. I finally let him go and began walking off, leaving everyone to watch me leave. They were all just laughing.

"Dude! How the heck do you lose to a girl like her?" I heard one of his friends say. The Johnny guy was just laughing too.

"Chill out, man. I was just playing with her. It's not like a girl can be stronger than a guy. I'll show her wassup," he replied to his friends. _Damn, people here are such liars. Well, he better not touch me like that again or I'll seriously hit him._

People continued to talk smack about us and people have even begun shoving me around for fun. I was gonna do something about it, but Yue Jin tells me not to, and because I knew my parents would be disappointed in me for fighting. I just ignored them, like what everyone else does. I hated not doing anything about it because it made me feel like I couldn't do anything about it. My anger has been kept inside for three whole months and I could feel that I was gonna explode anytime now. It was so hard to keep the anger and hatred inside. I have tried to call Ina and Okuni to talk to them but it seems like they switched their numbers because it was no longer in service. Because of the anger I feel right now, it's making me think that they switched it on purpose and they never liked me in the first place and that they replaced me with someone else.I knew they would never do that and that it wasn't true but somehow I still feel this way. It hurts a lot and it's affecting me emotionally. _I guess this is how bullying affects people mentally too. _I wanted to tell my parents about it but I couldn't let them know that I was being because it would hurt them and Yue Jin was my only friend there and I didn't want to leave him behind to deal with all that drama because I know he wouldn't do that to me either.

I was in my home, watching some television when the doorbell rang. I went to go open it and there was a letter on the ground. I opened it and read it "GO FUCKEN KILL YOURSELF, YOU STUPID BITCH ASS HOE! YOU'RE NOT WANTED IN THIS LIFE! NOBODY EVEN LIKES YOU IN THE SCHOOL SO WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?! I crinkled the paper up and slammed the door shut. _Why is this even happening to me? How did I even let this happen to me?_ I can feel tears making way and I tried hard not to cry. I went to the backyard and lit the paper on fire. Tears were coming out of my eyes. I crossed my arms and sighed. My phone suddenly buzzed and I looked at it. It was from an anonymous number and it was a meme of me. It wrote "Horny? Hit me up at 1-800-freesex" _Gosh, people can be so cruel!_ I deleted the text and went back inside once the fire died. I went up to my room and cried because I couldn't hold on anymore. I felt helpless and the pain wasn't going away. I never imagined how horrible life can really get. Living this way really changed the way I viewed life itself. I hate it right now and wished it would end but I couldn't end it. I cried until I couldn't cry anymore and fell asleep.

On Monday, Yue Jin didn't come to school. I wondered why he didn't come. I was walking around for fun when someone shoved me to the lockers. I smacked into the locker hard and fell down. I turned to that person with such hate. It was my old friends, only except it was the girls only. They began laughing at me.

"Oh poor you, Naotora. Are you regretting not hanging out with us? Because if you are, you can tell us," Julianne said to me and they began laughing so much._ I don't regret not hanging out with them. I chose the right path but there are some obstacles in my way._

"No, I don't regret. I'm glad I don't hang out with you guys anymore," I told them, "You guys are just a bunch of low life's who bully people like you ain't got nothing better to do." Laquanda then got do mad at me for saying that.

"What did you just say? You little shit!" she yelled at me and kicked my stomach. I wasn't wearing my pierces for the time being because I didn't want them pulling it out, causing an infection or anything. She got on top of me and began hitting my mouth so it could bleed, which it did. I was just trying to block myself from getting hit. After thirty seconds, Andrea and Julianne pulled her away. "You dumb bitch! You just got your ass beat by me! What are you gonna do?" I got up. It didn't even hurt that much because I have a lot of muscle and I was strong. My lip was bleeding and smiled.

"What am I gonna do? I'm gonna call you Laquanda," I replied and she was so freaken angry. She came to me and began hitting me again and I was just blocking myself from getting hit.

"Bitch, don't fucken call me Laquanda!" she screamed while hitting my face. I think she was trying to mess my face up but too bad. A teacher began coming and Andrea pulled Laquanda away.

"Asia, stop, the teachers coming," Andrea said and Laquanda let go of me as her wallet fell down but she didn't see they began walking off. I picked it up.

"Hey Laquanda, you dropped your wallet," I told her and she turned with such an angry face. I threw it to her and it smacked her face as she tried to come to me again but Andrea and Julianne pulled her back. _I'm not gonna let those bullies bring me down. They wanna try and crack me? I'll show them who's gonna crack first._ I began walking off into class.

It was around five when there was a knock on the door. _Ugh, who is it this time? I'm so sick of those letters already._ I walked to the door and opened it, expecting it to be a letter or something but instead it was Yue Jin. I was surprised.

"Oh, Yue Jin, hi," I said to him and he smiled.

"Hey, Naotora. Um, listen, I have to tell you something," Yue Jin replied. I turned and his Cousin Yue Wei's car was there. I figured he was gonna tell me something quickly before going back in the car.

"Yeah, what's up?" I replied as he looked down and sighed.

"I told my cousin what's been happening and he doesn't want that for me so he came here yesterday and I'm gonna leave with him," he told me and I was shocked._ What? He's leaving with his cousin? What happened to just ignoring the bullies?_

"You're moving in with your cousin? Why is that?" I asked him.

"I didn't want to, but he's forcing me. I just came here to say goodbye. He's waiting for me so I have to go now," Yue Jin replied to me and I felt like I wanted to cry. I nodded my head, understanding but now I'm gonna be all alone with those drama. It's as though he passed his bullying on to me and now he's free while I'm dealing with it.

"Okay, I hope you have a better life, unlike mines," I replied to him, giving him a hug. He hugged me back and the bar beeped once, as a sign to hurry it up. We stopped hugging and he left to the car as it drove off. I sighed. _Now what am I gonna do? I'm so stuck all alone with bullying. I gotta hold on to the piece of strength I still have._

At school, I was walking and a guy pushed me unexpectedly. I fell down on the cement. I turned to him and it was Jeirome. I gave him lots of attitude and he turned the other way.

"That's for calling Asia Laquanda," Jeirome told me._ She told him to come push me? That is so stupid! So if people call her by her original name, she's gonna tell her guys to come beat them up? Someone like her would do such a thing._

"So you pushed me because I called her by her real name?" I asked him, getting up.

"She hates that name so nobody should be calling her that," Jeirome replied to me. It made me laugh out loud.

"They can call her that and she can think her name's Asia all she wants, but in reality it's Laquanda," I told him, "Anyway, why didn't you beat me up or shove me hard? I'm sure Laquanda would've wanted that."

"Keep calling her that when she's around and the beating will start. This is just a warning for you not to ever call her that again," Jeirome told me and I thought it was so stupid.

"The beating will start? It's already begun. I'm gonna let you know right now. Whatever stunt you bullies try to pull on me isn't gonna bring me down. You bullies won't break my smile no matter how hard you try. Yeah, sure, call me those bad things and abuse me all you want. I don't care. You guys may laugh about it, but deep inside you guys are only laughing your way to hell. Don't expect god to show you mercy once its judgment time for you people," I replied to him and walked off.

It is finally in December now and I was home, just thinking about how hard life has been and how I need to stay strong. _I really miss Ina and Okuni. I wonder if they miss me too. I really wish I can go back. Everything would be so much better for me._ Tears began to come down my face when the door opened and it was my parents. I quickly wiped away the tears. They turned and saw me.

"Hi, honey," she began as she saw that my eyes were watery, "What's wrong?" I wiped the tears away and laughed. I shook my head.

"Nothing, I just miss Ina and Okuni," I replied and the mom gave me a hug. I hugged her back and it felt great to be in my mom's arms because I feel protected and safe. I hugged her really tight and I wanted to burst into tears from all the bullying.

"Well, I have good news for you, Naotora. Tomorrow, we're going back for the weekends so maybe you can hang out with your friends or go to the mall," my mom replied, as I got so happy and excited.

"Really?" I asked happily and my parents nodded their heads. They told me to pack some clothes because we were leaving soon. I then smiled and nodded my head. I rushed upstairs and packed a few clothes using a purple Nike sports bag. I came back downstairs. _Finally, I'm gonna get to see my friends again! What if they already have a new friend? No, I seriously doubt they would replace me. We've been friends for a very long time so I shouldn't think too much and just be happy I will get to see them again._ We finally left and began heading to my old city.

We left at ten at night and arrived at ten in the morning. We went to a hotel and got two rooms, one for me and one for my parents. _What should I wear today to surprise them?_ I went to go take a shower and then came out. I decided to wear a black and blue striped t shirt shirt with a pair of style ripped denim skinny jean with brown ankle boots and a brown leather jacket. I was wearing a black and blue shoulder bag. I let my hair wavy today and slanted my bangs to the left and put back on my pierces.

My parents were waiting for me when I came out of the room. We went in our car and they began driving to Ina's house. Once we arrived, I got out and went to their door. I pressed on the doorbell and pretty soon, Ina's dad opened the door. _Oh, I'm so excited!_

"Hi, is Ina home?" I asked him and he shook his head.

"No, she went to hang out with her friends," he replied and I was so disappointed._ Aww man, out of any other day, it had to be today when I came back into town. Oh well, maybe Okuni might be home._

"Oh, okay. Thanks anyways," I replied and he just smiled. I walked off back to my parents car and told them that Ina wasn't home. They then headed over to Okuni's house and her parents were outside, just about to head off somewhere. I came out of the car and went to them. "Hi, is Okuni home?" They turned to me and shook their heads._ What? Are they hanging out together? That totally sucks. I'm in town and there's no one to hang out with._

"No, she went to hang out with her friend," Okuni's mom replied. I thanked them anyways and went into the car, disappointed. I told my parents that Okuni wasn't home either.

"Well do you want to come with us to the old house? Some people are coming to see it," my dad asked me.

"Can you guys take me to the mall until you guys are finished?" I asked and they nodded their heads. My dad drove us to the mall. In about fifteen minutes, we reached the mall. "Call me when you guys are done, okay?"

"Hold on, Naotora," my dad said, taking out his wallet. He took out one of his credit cards and handed it to me._ Wow, this is the first time he's done that. Maybe he feels bad for moving me away from my friends. _I took the credit card.

"Thank you, dad," I told him, giving him a hug. I just smiled and I hugged my mom too. "I love you guys a lot." They told me they loved me too and I got out of the car and began walking inside the mall as they drove off.

_How I missed this mall so much!_ I thought about how my friends and I come here to shop. I began walking around shopping for gifts for my friends. I literally spent an hour now finding the perfect gift for Ina and Okuni for Christmas. I decided I was gonna drop it off later on. I even got something for Toshiie too for Christmas, which I wasn't even sure if I was gonna see him or not. I was walking up ahead towards the food court on the fifth story area.

"Wow, this is so nice! Thank you, Okuni and Ina!" I heard someone say and my heart began beating. I stopped walking._ Did I hear right? Did I just hear someone say Ina and Okuni? Are they here with someone else? Have I really been replaced?_ _Maybe it's best if I don't look. No, I shouldn't._ Before I knew it, I turned and there they were, with another girl. They were group hugging each other. I felt like my heart just dropped. "You guys are my best friends!"

"You're our best friend too," they both replied and I wanted to cry. _Wow, I can't believe I came into town just to find out the truth of what's been happening in town. We did that too when we were small. I really have been replaced by a new girl. I should have expected it._ I took a deep breath and began walking off to the food court area. I held in my tears and I wouldn't force it out. I was just sitting down, resting my feet. I was breathing calmly but deep inside, I needed to burst. I wasn't jealous of the new girl or anything. I was just really sad that my friends now have a new best friend and they remind me of our friendship.

"Yeah, it's a Christmas sale so I'm gonna buy hella lot of clothes," I heard a familiar voice say. _Oh my gosh, is it who I think it is? _My heart begins pounding as I turned and my eyes widened. _It's Toshiie!_ I haven't seen him since he kissed me on the last day of school. I began feeling butterflies in my tummy just thinking about it. _Why do I keep feeling this way? I wonder if he kissed me because he liked me or because of something else? No, it's probably something else. _Toshiie and his friends began walking more towards my direction. They were close by me now when someone was shouting.

"Hi Toshiie!" a girl said, running to hug Toshiie. Toshiie turned to the girl and smiled._ Wow, I thought he doesn't talk to girls. A lot really has changed since I moved. He never did that to any girl before. Does he like her? He probably does and that is why he smiled at her._

"Hey, Nissa," Toshiie replied to her as she gave him a hug on the neck._ Um, are they dating or something? I thought only couples do that to each other._ He gave a hug too. It was then that I began to feel a bit jealous. Then, she kissed him on the lip!_ Oh my gosh, she just kissed him! He didn't even pull away either. Is he kissing her back? I can't tell._ My eyes widened and I found myself just looking, ready to fall apart and shatter into pieces that can never be put back together. My heart began pounding really loud and began to hurt like I wasn't gonna live to see tomorrow. I felt like the piece of strength I was holding on to for many months fell out of my hands and disappeared. I felt like the world was spinning and the pain I was feeling in my heart wouldn't go away. _Why did he have to kiss me and make me think there may have been hope for us? Instead, he kisses another girl. Why? I hate it so much! I don't ever wanna come back here anymore!_ I wanted to leave the mall right now. As a matter of fact, I wanted to go back home. Many tears came out of my eyes and I was trying so hard not to cry out loud. I used my hands to cover my mouth. I saw the girl leaving. I got out of the seat and began walking fast out of the door but while I was walking, someone bumps into me from the side and I fell down, accidentally letting go of the bag. I turned and it was Toshiie.

Kiyomasa pushed Toshiie for fun but he accidentally hit a girl and she fell down. He turned to her and she turned to him. Her eyes were so sparkly. She has a brown eye and a blue eye.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry," he said to her. He noticed she was crying her eyes out. She then got up and ran to the stairs, leaving her shopping bag. She began running down the stairs. "Okay? That was weird. She left her bags." He walked to it and picked it up. He went back to them.

"See if she bought some panties or something," Keiji suggested, laughing and the rest did too. He just laughed and looked inside. The bag was from the new store called "Swag on" and customers can have their stuff in gift bags. There were three of them.

"It's three gift bags," Toshiie replied.

"See who it's for. Maybe we can see if we know who the gifts are for and we can give it to them and say a girl dropped it," Sakon suggested and he thought it was a good idea. He took out one of the gifts and checked to see who it was for. To his surprise, it was for Ina.

"This one is for the chick Ina but it doesn't say who it's from. It just says 'me, one of your best friends. NIO forever,'" Toshiie said and they gathered around to look. He thought that the gift for Ina was just by chance that he stumbled across it. When he took out the other gift, it was for Okuni. It was from the same thing. "This one's for Okuni." He took out the last bag and read who it's for. He got confused when he read who that one was for.

"Who's that one for?" Keiji asked.

"That's odd. It says this one is for me," he told them as they checked and it really was for him. He checked to see who it was from. It just wrote, "Troublesome sixth grader" He then realized the girl's eyes were exactly like Naotora's and he began to think it was her. He quickly got up and looked down the floors below the fifth floor to see if he can see her. It hasn't been that long since she ran down. he saw someone running on the second floor. He quickly began going too.

"Dude, where you going?" Kiyomasa yelled as Toshiie went to the elevator.

"I think Naotora's here. Tell Ina and Okuni them," Toshiie said as the elevator closed. The rest of the guys just looked at each other, wondering why he was like that. They turned and saw Okuni and Ina together.

"Hey Ina, you guys come over here. We have something urgent to tell you," Sakon yelled out to them. They turned and began walking to them.

"This better be important," Ina said.

"What's NIO?" Kiyomasa asked them as Ina and Okuni looked at each other.

"NIO stands for Naotora, Ina, and Okuni. How do you guys even know? Only the three of us were supposed to know it," Ina said, looking at them suspicious. They pointed to the gift bags. "What about them?"

"Well, Toshiie bumped into a girl who dropped this bag. She left those behind and the gifts were for you, Okuni and Toshiie. It says his gift is from 'Troublesome sixth grader' and how Toshiie calls her that and she was in sixth grade last year too so Toshiie thinks it was Naotora," Keiji explained to the girls and they looked at the gift and saw they were telling the truth.

"This is Naotora's handwriting," Okuni said. They put the bags away.

"Well where is she?" Ina asked, looking around, realizing that Toshiie wasn't there and her mouth dropped open, "Where's Toshiie? Don't tell me he kidnapped her again."

"What do you mean again? He never kidnapped her but may I just say it was kinda nice hearing that again. Anyways, Toshiie went to look for her. When he bumped into her, she was already crying. I don't know why though but she ran off," Kiyomasa told Ina and Okuni. They began to look for her around the mall too.

When Toshiie reached the second floor, he saw her going down the stairs. He quickly got back in the elevator and went to the first floor. He wondered what she was doing there and if she moved back or if she was just visiting. He also wondered why she was crying. Could she have seen Nissa kiss him? Could it have been a different reason? He wanted to know.

He got out of the elevator and he saw her running out of the mall. He quickly went to the door and ran out too. She was running up ahead and he ran to try and catch up with her. She turned the corner and in ten seconds, he turned the corner too but she wasn't in sight anymore. He stopped running and was just panting. He looked around and he couldn't find her anymore. Toshiie thought that she was such a fast runner for a girl. His heart began beating in a way he has never felt before. Why was he feeling that way? Could it have been because he feels a sense of guilt of kissing her and then a girl kissed him? Those questions swirled in his head as he walked back towards the mall…

I knew that Toshiie was following me but I didn't wanna seem him. There was a small space after I turned the corner so I went through it and didn't make a sound. People don't realize it's there because they don't pay attention to it. Toshiie was in front of it but his back was facing it. I covered my mouth and tears were still coming down.

I waited a minute there before coming out to make sure he really did leave, which he did. I wiped away my tears and tried to calm myself down, which I managed to do after struggling for another hour. I stopped crying because I ran out of tears but the pain in my heart still hurt. I began walking to my old house because I was sure my parents were still there showing the people around the house. _Well, we really aren't meant for each other. Maybe it's always been like that. Maybe Toshiie kissed me just to tease me because he knows I liked him. It wasn't what I thought it was. It's okay though. He's got a girlfriend so I'm gonna seriously force myself to not like him anymore. Maybe I'm really not wanted in this life after all. Even though I don't have any friends, at least I still have my parents to love me. I won't live for friends. I'll live for my parents. I'll figure out everything on my own and deal with my own problems myself. That's what the future holds for me._


	4. Chapter 4

I was sitting down on my bed. It was night time and I had school tomorrow. It was already eleven at night and I couldn't sleep. I was thinking about what I would be going through tomorrow and about my old friends and Toshiie. _I'll forget I knew them. I won't think about them anymore._ I looked down at my tattoo with the letters "NIO" and it saddened me again. I layed down on my bed and sighed.

"Why is this even happening in my life?" I asked myself and stared at the ceiling stars. _Why is life so cruel right now? I wonder if Yue Jin is having a better life. Why am I still awake thinking things? I really need to sleep._ I closed my eyes and forced myself to sleep.

I was walking around school during lunch and many people would stop to stare at me. They were all gossiping about me but I really didn't care what they say about me. I always never cared what they thought of me._ Let them say what they want because what they're saying isn't true and they are just laughing because they're stupid. Toshiie has called me stupid before but this is even more stupid. Speaking of Toshiie, how did I even like a guy like him? He was always mean to me, yet he seemed like he really cared the times when I was hurt. I just don't get him._ I turned the corner and there that Johnny guy was. He turned to me and smiled.

"Oh shit, have you finally decided to give us free sex?" he asked as his friends laughed. I rolled my eyes and began to leave but they blocked it. I turned around to go back but then his other friends blocked. They all surrounded me.

"No, I didn't. I'm not that kind of girl so move it," I told them and tried to go past them but they pushed me back in the middle of them. They were pushing me around for fun, making me from one guy to another. _This is so freaken annoying!_ "Stop!" A guy pushed me and I landed in stupid Johnny's arms. I quickly moved away from him but he pulled me close to him. He was being such a disgusting pervert to me and I really hated it.

"You should just give it to me. You're hella sexy and fine as hell. You make me fucken horny, baby. Wanna have a one night stand with me? I promise you it'll be worth it," Johnny told me. _What the heck is a one night stand? Whatever it was, I know it's not good._ I pulled his hands away from me and tried to move but he didn't let.

"I don't even know what a one night stand is and I don't care what it is. Let me go, you sick pervert! You're only in middle school, why are you such a disgusting person?" I yelled at him and he tried to kiss me!_ Ah! Oh heck no! I am not gonna let him do that to me!_ I turned the other way and pushed him away from me. He finally let go of me. "Don't touch me!"

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" he asked, smacking my butt and I screamed, covering it. _He did not just touch my butt! I feel so sickened from him._ I got so mad at him for touching me there. I made such a mad face ay him.

"You nasty pervert!" I shouted to him, punching his nose hard and it began to bleed. That was the second time I have given him a bloody nose.

"Oh Johnny! For the second time now!" his friends said, laughing. Johnny wiped the blood from his nose and looked at it. He then turned to me with such a mad face. I didn't care because I was already giving him a mean face.

"You're gonna fucken regret this, you fucking little bitch," Johnny told me and he left. His friends left after him too and I just watched them with lots of attitude. _I hate them so much! They're all sick perverts._ I began walking off my own direction too.

It was finally in March now. I was sitting down, watching some television when my mom came home. She seemed like she was in a very good mood. She put her purse away and went upstairs. _I wonder why she's happy. It must be something wonderful for her to be very happy._ My mom came back downstairs and came to me. She was wearing formal clothing.

"Naotora, I just signed you up to sing for the upcoming community event. You're gonna have to sing a song and they'll decide if they will use you or not. It'll be wonderful. You'll have something to do instead of always staying home. I know you'll do great so come on, get going," my mom told me, "It starts at four in the afternoon. It's already three." _Wow, that was unexpected. I haven't sung for a while now. I'm not sure if I'm still good at it._ I smiled and nodded my head. I went into my room and searched for an outfit. It was a loose white teen top that is laced on the top chest and a blackish grey leather skinny jean with black wedges. I left my hair straight and slanted my bangs to the right.

We reached a place I haven't been to before. It looks like a place where people go watch other people opera singing. When we went inside, there were a lot of people on the seats. There was a sign that wrote "singers this way" and so I had to go there and confirm my name to let them know I was there.

When it reached four, they began having the singers go up one by one. _Wow, I actually feel kind of nervous._ There was about twenty people performing but only five of us will be chosen to get to sing. I heard the judges say that. _What song should I sing? I wasn't prepared for this at all. Maybe I can just sing something similar to the way how I'm feeling._ Before I knew it, it was my turn and I was the last one to go up.

"Ms. Naotora Ii, you're next," a judge said to me. I turned and got up, were so many heads looking at me. _Did I really think for that long? It was just still the first person's turn and now it's already mines._ I got up and walked to the microphone. "So what song will you be singing for us today?" I thought about it for a moment.

"I'm gonna sing 'A little too not over you' by David Archuleta," I replied as the judge nodded his head.

"Oh, may I ask why?" he asked me.

"I'm singing it to let my emotions out. There was this guy I liked but I tried not to like him anymore. He has a girlfriend now and I still like him. I'm not over him yet, so maybe singing this song will help me relieve my pain," I explained to him.

"Alright then, whenever you're ready," he replied to me, as the beat of the song began playing. _Dang, they provide the beats? That's cool._

"Ooh oh oh, it never crossed my mind at all. That's what I tell myself. What we had has come and gone. You're better off with someone else. It's for the best. I know it is but I see you. Sometimes I try to hide what I feel inside and I turn around, you're with her now. I just can't figure it out. Tell me why you're so hard to forget. Don't remind me I'm not over it. Tell me why, I can't seem to face the truth. I'm still a little too not over you," I sang, letting my emotion fill in with the song. I was thinking about what happened the day I went back and saw the girl kiss Toshiie. It hurt my soul thinking about it. When I was done, I got a standing ovation from everyone.

"Okay, thank you very much Naotora," the judge said and I went back to go sit down, "Okay that was the last performer. All of you did amazing. We'll let you guys know who and who made it. You will receive a call from us. Thank you for coming." Everyone began leaving. I found my mom and she came to me. she gave me a big hug.

"You did spectacular, Naotora!" my mom told me and I thanked her. We left back to our house and I helped her cook some lasagna. Around six, I received a call from the judge saying that I was chosen to be a singer for the community event._ Finally I feel happy. I don't remember when was the last _time_ I felt happy. I actually really miss singing and I need to do resume it._ We ate some lasagna and later on I went to sleep.

On the day of the community event, I wore a sleeveless chiffon dress that was sky blue. It was short on the front but longer in the back. I wore a pair of open toe sky blue wedge booties. I made my hair a waterfall style braid with waves on my hair and wore only one sky blue lip ring with a small letter "N" and all four collar pierces._ I feel excited for today. Hopefully it will go by smoothly and give me a rest from all the bullying that's been happening._

We arrived at the event around five and I'm scheduled to sing at night around eight. I had to go serve drinks to people. There were lots of tables people can sit down on and people serve them food and drinks. There was space for people to dance for fun and a stage where singers will be singing. I had some apple cider on beautiful glass cups on a tray. There were about ten of them and I had to walk around the tables, asking if they would like some drinks. People were wearing formal like clothing.

"Hello, would you guys like some apple cider?" I asked a family of light skinned black people and they nodded their heads. I smiled and placed the glass down for them. I went to a guy and placed a glass where he sat and turned to him and I realized it was Jeirome! He saw me too. _Oh my goodness, how awkward to be giving his family drinks. I wonder if they know he's a bully. I can care less._ We didn't say anything to each other and I left the table and to another table.

Once it was eight, I went to go put the tray away and the judge, the guy who called me to let me know I was gonna be one of the singers there, came up on the stage and cleared his throat before speaking.

"Okay, and that was the singer Xun Yu. Excellent performance. Moving on to the next, this girl sings with passion and has an amazing voice. She will blow you away. I welcome you, Naotora Ii," he said as people clapped their hands. I took a deep breath and went up the stage. I looked at the crowd, smiling as I saw Jeirome looking. _That bully jerk. Why did I even have to see him? Oh well, I'm just gonna sing and have a great time. _The song "You are my song" by David Archuleta began playing as many couples went to do slow dance. I remembered singing this song while thinking about Toshiie. Maybe if I can just think it again, I'll do well. The stage light dimmed low and light shone upon me only.

"Hmm mm. You are the song playing so softly in my heart. I reach for you. You seem so near yet so far. I hope and I pray you'll be with me someday. I know down inside you are mine and I'm your true love or am I dreaming? How can I each time I try you say goodbye? You are there. You look my way I touch the sky. We can share tomorrow and forevermore. I'll be there to love you so you are my song," I sang, thinking about how I felt for Toshiie that one day I sang this song. When I finished, everyone clapped their hands…

When Jeirome heard Naotora sing, he immediately fell in love with her once again. He never knew how talented she was and he felt determined to try to talk to her again. He can tell people to stop bullying her and get her to hang out with him and his friends again and maybe she just might change her mind and be his girlfriend. Besides, no girl has ever resisted him before twice in a row…

It was Monday again and I was at school, just sitting down, thinking hard when I saw someone approaching me. _Not again. They try so hard to break me down but no matter what I won't let them. I refuse to show that I'm vulnerable._

"Hey Naotora, great singing at the community event," he said. I turned to him and it was Jeirome. I turned away and crossed my hands together. _Why is he trying to be nice all of a sudden? Why is he even talking to me?_

"What do you want?" I asked him, not looking at him. He came and sat down next to me. I scooted away from him because I didn't want to be near bullies or liars. He is both, which makes it worse for him to come talk to me._ What is he up to now? Trying to find an excuse to bully me?_ He shook his head.

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk to you," he replied._ Yeah, right. Something is up. I already know because he isn't just gonna one day come talk to me again after a long time._ I turned to him with a serious face.

"You're lying, I know. It's not like you to come talk to me again after watching me get bullied and you pushing me down," I replied and he began laughing, "You're just trying to find an excuse to bully me too because you're bored with your life and need to be entertained."

"Alright, you caught me. I'm here to ask if you want to hang out with me and my friends again. We're willing to forget everything that's happened," he said, and it got me really curious. _Is he for reals? I don't want to hang out with bullies and I won't make that same mistake again._

"No, I don't wanna hang out with you guys. You're all bullies and I'm not gonna hang out with bullies. I'd rather be alone," I replied to him. He scoffed in disbelief that I rejected his offer. He then got up and turned to me.

"I'm gonna give you two days to rethink this offer," he told me, walking off.

"I'm not gonna change my answer," I told him but he just went off. It doesn't matter how many times he asks me to hang out with them because the answer will always be no. it's just gonna be a waste of his breath and time asking me.

Two days later during lunch, he really did come back and see if I changed my mind. I still haven't changed my answer and I never will.

"So are you deciding to hang out with us again?" Jeirome asked and I shook my head.

"Nope, I'm not hanging out with you bullies," I replied to him.

"Just come hang with us again. Why you gotta make everything so hard?" he asked me. _how the heck am I making everything hard? It's him who's making it hard because he seems to not want to take no as an answer._

"I told you already, I'm not and I never will," I told him, walking off._ Why is it so hard for him to accept no for an answer? He should just stop asking me already._

For a whole week, he's been asking me to hang out with him again but I always reject his offer. It was Friday and I was sitting down on a different spot. I was reading when Jeirome came up to me again. I closed the book and turned to him.

"I'm not gonna hang out with you guys! How many rejects is it gonna take for you to realize that I'm not gonna hang out with you?" I said, knowing he came to ask me about it again and I was getting so tired of it. I grabbed my shoulder bag and began to walk off.

"Why won't you hang out with us?" he asked and I turned around to him, making an angry face. _Wow, all this time he doesn't realize why I won't hang out with them? You have got to be kidding me!_

"Why? Because you guys are a bunch of bullies, that's why!" I yelled at him, as he pulled me to him and kissed my lip!_ Aah! What the hell? Why did he freaken kiss me for? Ugh, I have had enough of Jeirome!_ I got really mad at him so I slapped him on his cheek. "What the hell, Jeirome? Why did you kiss me?"

"Because I still like you. If you don't wanna hang out with us, I'll just take your first kiss then!" he yelled back and I shook my head._ Oh so because I won't hang out with him he was gonna try to take my first kiss? Well too bad! Toshiie already took it! But now he has a girlfriend and it makes me feel so sad._

"You can't take it because it's already been taken," I told him.

"Aha! You and Yue Jin did do sexual stuff to each other! I knew it. You liked him from the beginning so you two kissed," Jeirome said to me. _Seriously? Yue Jin and I didn't even do anything to each other. I didn't even like him that way._ I shook my head.

"No, we didn't. I never liked Yue Jin that way. I didn't lose my first kiss to him. I already lost my first kiss to a guy I liked back in my old town," I told Jeirome and he was just quiet, looking down. I took a deep breath, calming myself down. "Don't ever kiss me again." I then walked off.

In April, there was another community event and I received a call, asking if I would like to volunteer and help out with the event again because they really appreciated my help last time. I had nothing to do so I agreed to do it and it was a dancing event. I was gonna be one of the people singing again and serving food and drinks to people.

That day was a perfect day. It wasn't too hot or too cold. The wind was breezy and cool. I decided to wear a black harem hip hop sweatpant with paint designs on it followed by a black workout bra. I wore a silver sweater with it but I didn't zip it up all the way. I only zipped it halfway. I put on a black beanie with silver writings that wrote "Dance" and left my hair straight and I put on all my pierces.

My parents and I arrived at the event, which was located at the park. I signed in and began handing out food to people. While I was doing that, I was also watching people dance battle. They were really good too. I was walking while watching them and I accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry," I told them and turned to see who I bumped into. It was stupid Johnny. He was with his friends. _Ew, what the heck is he doing at a community event? Why did I even have to bump into him, of all people?_ Once he saw me, he smiled.

"Hey, it's Naotora. Have you finally decided to give me a good fuck?" he asked me and I rolled my eyes and began walking off but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him. I was holding the tray of food so I can't push him away.

"Stop it! Let go of me!" I yelled at him, trying to move away from him but he was just laughing. I gave out lots of attitude to him. "I will give you your third bloody nose if you don't let go of me!" He just laughed. I tried to move away but he held on to me. _That does it! I am giving him his third bloody nose!_ I held on to the tray with one hand and I punched him on the nose, giving him his third bloody nose. He let go of me and he was so mad.

"You little bitch," he told me. He was about to hit me but a guy grabbed his wrist and swung it the other way. He was an Asian guy and he was very cute and handsome.

"Don't you know you can get fined for hitting a community volunteer member? Why would you even think about hitting a girl? That's just really cruel and messed up. You guys need to leave her alone or suffer the consequences," he told Johnny.

"Bitch, I'm not through with you," he told me and began walking off. His friends followed after him. The guy then turned around to me.

"Are you alright? They didn't hurt you, did they?" he asked, making sure I was okay. I nodded my head and smiled.

"Yeah I'm okay. Thanks for the help," I replied to him and he smiled.

"No problem. I'm Xun Yu, we didn't get to meet at the last event," he told me.

"I'm Naotora Ii," I replied to him. We talked for a little bit while serving food to other people. It was finally four in the afternoon when we got our break. He asked me to hang out with him and I did, because he seemed like a really cool guy. We walked over to the dancing area and the song "Neon lights" by Demi Lovato was playing.

"Do you wanna dance?" Xun Yu asked me and I smiled and nodded my head. We both began dancing hip hop. _Wow, I didn't know he knows how to dance. That's cool. I now know he sings and dances. I wonder if he plays musical instruments._ We were both just having fun dancing together for fun…

Jeirome watched as Naotora dance away happily with another guy and he was so jealous deep inside. He couldn't believe he's even feeling that way because he's never been jealous before. He didn't know that guy, but he hated his guts so much. He didn't want Naotora to be with anyone else but him.

He began making way to Naotora and the stranger guy. He turned the guy around and punched him in the face and he fell down. Naotora gasped and went to the stranger.

"Oh my goodness, Xun Yu, are you okay?" she asked the stranger and Jeirome got so angry that she cared about the stranger and they barely met each other. Jeirome concluded that Naotora refused to hang out with him because of that guy. He wanted to beat the crap out of the guy. Naotora turned to him and pushed him. "What's your problem, Jeirome?"

"My problem? I don't want you fucken talking to any other guys!" he yelled at her and she made a mad face.

"I can hang out with whoever I want!" she yelled back at him, helping the guy back up.

"So this is the reason why you refuse to hang out with me? Because you like this fucken fag? I don't want you talking to any other guy besides me!" he told her and he could tell she was mad at him.

"No it's not! It's because you're a bully and a liar that I don't wanna hang out with you! I can talk to whoever I want and I can hang out with whoever I want! Don't be trying to control my life!" she shouted at him and walked off with the guy, leaving Jeirome feeling so jealous deep inside and he wanted to beat that guy up…

I took Xun Yu off by the water fountain. I sat down on the circle area, putting my hands on my cheeks._ Stupid Jeirome. Trying to take control of my life? I don't think so! _Xun Yu sat down by me.

"Ex obsession problem?" he asked me and I shook my head.

"Ew no, never! He's just a guy I used to be friends with. I found out he was a bully and I wanted nothing to do with bullies so I ended our friendship. We haven't talked to each other for a long time now and then all of a sudden he asks me to hang out with him again. He's been asking me so much but I always reject him. Now he's telling me I can talk to any other guys or hang out with them," I explained to him and he laughed.

"Wow, seems like he's got a really big crush on you. It seems to be he's becoming obsessed with you," Xun Yu told me. _Ew he's getting obsessed with me? That's just plain weird now. I don't think a guy like him will become an obsessed guy. There's just no way. _I shook my head.

"Nah, I don't think he's obsessed. There's just no way is he becoming obsessed with me," I replied to him and we just laughed it off.

I continued talking to Xun Yu and we were good friends, only except he is a freshman in high school. I was beginning to get over Toshiie and starting to really like Xun Yu because he was so nice and kind. He has really good grades and he is even an active member in the community. I think he is into me too but I'm not sure.

Jeirome, on the other hand, continued to bother me and it was getting very annoying now. He doesn't just ask me to hang out with him but he also tells me I can't hang out with any other guys. I never listen to him though.

I was sitting down, eating some chicken nuggets and I saw Jeirome starting to come towards my way. I knew he was gonna come to me and I got my stuff quickly. I threw away the nuggets and tried to evade him. _He is starting to become a freak!_

"Naotora!" yelled Jeirome. The moment I heard his voice, it made me walk faster. _I am gonna avoid him from now on._ I continued walking off, ignoring him. He called my name several times but I kept walking. "Naotora, I know you can hear me! Stop ignoring me!" Jeirome began jogging to catch up to me. He was freaking me out so I began running off into class. I opened the door and went inside. The teacher turned to me, wondering why I was in such a rush.

"Wow, you sure did come dashing inside. What's wrong?" she asked me and I just smiled and shook my head.

"I was just evading a guy," I told her and she just laughed. _Whew, at least he's not here. Maybe I should just bring my own food and stay in here so Jeirome won't be able to come to me._ I went to the teacher. She is my guitar class teacher. "Mrs. Jenny? Do you think it's okay if I come stay here during lunch time?" She then smiled with joy.

"Sure, why not? You can keep me company, since it gets quiet here sometimes," she replied cheerfully. I then smiled and thanked her._ She reminds me of Mrs. Nohime. I wonder how she's doing now._

A week before the day before spring break, our guitar class teacher told us we were gonna be playing the guitar for everyone to hear, and we could choose the song. She also gave us an opportunity to earn extra credit too. If we sing too, we'll earn extra credit. We weren't singing in school though. We were gonna be going to a concert like place.

It was the day and we were taken to the concert place. I was wearing a jean short that was loose and went up to half an inch above the middle of my thighs. I had on a red and black plaid shirt with buttons on it and wore a pair of high top converse. My hair was French braided to the side. Everyone was there and students were already beginning to play the guitar. Some of them sung too and some didn't.

After literally an hour of students playing guitar, it was finally my turn. I went out and there were so many students. I began hearing girls gossiping about me again. I had my guitar with me and I sat down on the chair. The microphone came with a stand and I adjusted it so I'll be able to sing too.

"Ew, I didn't know that slut was taking guitar class. I bet she's gonna hella suck," I heard a girl say and I put my guitar in place. I took a deep breath.

"I know there are a lot of you that have been bullied, including myself. Nobody will ever understand how we truly feel deep inside. We just want someone to reach out to us. Well I'm telling you right now. We'll make it through all the bullying. This song's for you guys," I said and people were looking at each other. I looked down on my guitar and began playing the song "Desperate" by David Archuleta. "Desperate. Desperate. You're reaching out and no one hears you cry. You're freaking out, again cause all your fears remind you another dream has come undone. You feel so small and lost like you're the only one. You wanna scream cause your desperate. You want somebody, just anybody to lay their hands on your soul tonight. You want a reason to keep believing' that someday you're gonna see the light." When I finished singing, many people gave me a standing ovation. Only the bullies didn't do it. I got up and left the stage. I went to go sit down where the performers were at. While I was watching the rest play the guitar, Xun Yu texted me. I read it "I got jumped right now. It was that guy from last time. The obsessed one. He and a group of guys just beat me up." _Oh my gosh, Jeirome did not just do that!_ I texted him to meet me at the park and he agreed to it.

When everyone was allowed to leave, I went to the park and I saw Xun Yu sitting down on the bench._ This is all my fault. I shouldn't let him get hurt because of me. I don't want people to be in danger because of me. My parents already got hurt because of me. I really don't need another one to be hurt._ I walked over to him, with tears in my eyes. I felt so terrible that I put him in danger. He turned to me and smiled. He had a bruise on his jaw and a small one on his cheek.

"Hey," he said to me and I gave him a hug.

"Xun Yu, I am so sorry. You got hurt because of me," I told him, as he gave me a hug too. My tears dropped down my cheeks and he hugged me tighter. "This is all my fault."

"It's okay, it's not your fault. It was that guys fault. He's become overly obsessed with you that he's trying to control you. He's hurting the ones you care about to get what he wants from you," he replied to me, wiping my tears away from my eyes. "Listen, Naotora. We'll make it through this."

"I don't know. I can't stand seeing the ones I care about get hurt," I told him, and he made me look at him in the eye.

"I'm in love with you, Naotora. If this is what I have to endure for us to be together, then so be it. I won't let any harm come to you, I promise," Xun Yu said. It was such a butterfly feeling in my tummy to hear those words come out of his mouth, because I really liked him too. _Maybe I'm meant to be with Xun Yu and not Toshiie._

"And I won't let any harm come to you," I replied to him and he smiled. I smiled too, and he began coming down to kiss me. It gave me déjà vu when Toshiie did that to me, but his wasn't real. _This is my true kiss. He is so sincere when he speaks._ I really believed him when he said he loved me. I know what we felt towards each other was real and not just some sick lie. Once our lips were about to make contact, we both closed our eyes and let the moment take us away. The sad thing was that didn't happen. When we were about to make contact, someone pulls Xun Yu and began to beat him up. I opened my eyes and saw Jeirome and his friends beating the crap out of Xun Yu and it really hurt seeing him get hurt.

"Stop it Jeirome!" I yelled, trying to pull him off Xun Yu. His friends held my arms and I tried to make them let go. "Stop! Let go of me! Please, Jeirome. Don't hurt him!" Tears ran down my face again as I struggled to free myself. I broke free and began running to Jeirome and I pushed him hard and he fell off Xun Yu.

"Naotora, move away!" Xun Yu told me as Jeirome pushed me back to his friends and they made me got on my knees and held my arms really tight. They stepped on my shoe too so I couldn't move.

"Stop!" I cried, not being able to do anything but watch Xun Yu get beat.

"Fucken bitch, didn't I tell you to stop fucken talking to her? You're gonna fucken pay!" Jeirome yelled and whooped Xun Yu. I couldn't take watching him get hurt anymore because of me. I know he said we could make it through this but I can't stand him getting hurt. I used a lot of my strength and finally got them to let go of me. I ran to Xun Yu.

"Stop Jeirome, please! I won't talk or hang out with him anymore! Just don't hurt him anymore," I told Jeirome, crying and hugging Xun Yu. He was bleeding from his mouth and nose. "I promise I won't get in contact with him anymore."

"No, Naotora, I told you I'll endure it. I promised you I won't let harm get to you," Xun Yu told me. _Xun Yu, you have touched me in the deepest way possible and I like you so much but I can't let you be in suffer because of me._

"And I promised you I wouldn't let harm come to you. I am so sorry, Xun Yu. I love you too but I can't let you suffer because of me," I told him, as he looked really hurt and sad. I felt so guilty on the inside but I knew this was the best thing I could do for him. He grabbed my hand and held on to it.

"You don't have to do this, Naotora," he told me._ I don't have to, but I must do it. Jeirome is capable of doing almost anything. Besides, if it were me, you would've done the same thing for me._ I held on to his hand too.

"I'm sorry, but I gotta do it. I know you would have done the same for me. I gotta do whatever it takes to keep the ones I care about safe," I told him, letting go of his hand. He had tears in his eyes and I could tell he was forcing himself not to cry. He got up and wiped his blood away. I watched in pain as he began walking off, leaving me in tears. Seeing someone you truly like walking away hurts a lot. Jeirome went to me. I was so angry at him. I really hated him now. He ruined my chance of being happy.

"He doesn't deserve you," Jeirome told me, placing one hand on my shoulder and I smacked it away from me and turned to him with such hate in my eyes.

"Oh, and you think you deserve me? Well guess what? You sure as hell especially don't deserve me. I hate you Jeirome! I will never ever like you! You are a bully and a life ruiner! Don't ever talk to me again!" I yelled at him, slapping his cheek and walking away, as Johnny came out of nowhere and placed his hands on my boobs. I pushed him away from me really fast and socked his nose as hard as I could. It began bleeding again and he got so mad at me for the third time.

"You little fucken slut!" Johnny yelled at me, and tried to hit me. I moved away and sucker punched his chin and he fell down. Many people saw me doing that and they were laughing a lot at him.

"Stupid Johnny boy! Quit being such a pervert!" I yelled at him and walked off, thinking about how angry and sad I was.

On the third day of spring break, I was sitting down on the sofa when my mom came to me, smiling very happily. I was still pretty upset and sad. I really missed talking to Xun Yu but I couldn't talk to him because I didn't want anything to happen to him. My mom pulled me up. I turned to her, wondering what was up.

"Hunny, get dressed. We're gonna spend some mother and daughter time. We haven't done it in ages and I'm finally not doing anything today. Go get dressed ok?" my mom told me. I smiled and nodded my head. _Mother and daughter times were the best back then. We always spent time together and always had a great time. Maybe this can help cheer me up._

I went into my room and put on a thin light pink v neck shirt and a style ripped cupree that goes up to my knee. My shoes were vans and I left my hair straight. I came out of the room and we got in the car and she began driving us.

She went to a hair salon and told me that we were gonna get our hair done. _I totally need to change my hair. I haven't got time to do so yet. I think I'll dye it burgundy and get my hair layered._ We got out hair fixed and she paid for it. My hair was up to my waist now. It used to be up to the bottom of my butt. Next, we went major shopping for five whole hours and we had so much stuff to carry. We even went to go take pictures on the photo booth too. We had a lot of fun but it came by too quick. It was beginning to get dark and we went to go eat out.

My mom was driving us back home when I noticed there was a car that's been following us for quite some time now. I don't know why but I had a bad feeling about it. _I think I need to tell my mom._

"Hey mom, I think the car behind us is following us. It's been behind us for some time now. I have a bad feeling about it," I told her and she glanced in the mirror and saw the car right behind us. The person in the car was tailgating us.

"That's strange," my mom said, as the car moved over to the lane where cars are supposed to pass by in the opposite direction from us. It sped up a bit and drove the same miles per hour as my moms. "What are they doing? They can get in a lot of trouble for this."

"I don't know," I replied to her, as the car crashed into my mom's side. The both of us screamed as the car went to the right a bit but my mom made it go straight again. We both began freaking out. "Oh my gosh, what the heck is their problem?"

"I'm not sure, but we need to get away from them as quick as possible," my mom said, trying to remain calm. She sped up the car and so did the other car! They crashed into us again, making the car go to the right but my mom made it go straight again. My mom opened the window. "Hey! You better stop running into us or I'll call the police!"

"Fuck you!" a guy said as we heard laughter. The car crashed into us again really hard as our car sharply turned to the right and my mom lost control of the wheel. Our car stopped sharply, causing it to start rolling. My mom and I screamed as I hit the window really hard and my mom hit the steering wheel. As the car was still rolling, a large truck came and slammed into the car, moving it all the way to a tree and the car broke the tree and was upside down. We were both bleeding a lot, especially my mom. Her eyes were closed. I felt a lot of pain and I was starting to go unconscious.

"Mom," I managed to call out weakly. She didn't answer me. We were both upside down and I looked out to the streets. There was the stupid car was. It wasn't driving but the windows were lowered. I can hear them talking but I don't really know what they were saying.

"I told you to stop before this kind of shit happens. What if she's dead? We're gonna fucken be murderers!" I heard someone say, as someone poked their heads out to peek. They couldn't see me but I could see them. I then recognized the person who poked his head out. Before I knew it, everything went black and I became unconscious.

My eyes opened and I saw myself in the hospital and my dad was sitting down crying so much. I wondered how long I was out and if my mom was okay. I sat up in bed and I was full of pain. I still managed to sit up though.

"Dad?" I called out to him. He turned to me and ran over to me. He gave me such a tight hug like I haven't woken up in a long time. It actually did feel like a long time.

"Naotora! You're finally awake!" he shouted, crying. I hugged him back.

"Where's mom? Is she okay?" I asked, as my dad burst into tears all over again. I have never seen him so sad in my whole life.

"Naotora, your mom… She didn't make it," my dad told me and my eyes widened with horror._ What? She didn't make it? She passed away?_ Tears immediately swelled up my eyes and my heart grew so heavy. I began crying so much as the pain in my heart began hurting so much that I felt like I was gonna die too.

"No, this can't be! This can't be! Tell me you're just lying to me and that she's okay!" I yelled, crying so much. My dad couldn't speak. He could only cry just like me. _Why was it her the one to leave? She never deserved this!_ I couldn't stop crying no matter how hard I tried to stop.

Since we didn't have any relatives or cousins near us, we just had her buried and didn't give her a funeral. It was the saddest day of my life seeing her get buried because every time they put the dirt on the coffin, it felt like a knife stabbing my heart. My dad and I cried so hard that I didn't know how much more I could take. The final dirt placed over felt like someone ripped out my heart and it felt hard to breathe.

When I woke up in the morning, I went downstairs and my dad was drinking so much. There were so many bottles of beer and vodka. My dad was lying down on the sofa and driking some more. He looked so wasted. I went to him and tried to take the bottle away from him but he didn't let.

"Dad, give it to me, you're drinking too much. It's not healthy for you," I told him, attempting to take the bottle away from him again. He then began crying. I knew he must have been so sad from losing his wife. I miss her so much too but she wouldn't have wanted me to let my dad become alcoholic.

"My wife is dead, and my daughter is being bullied at school too," he said and I was surprised he knew what has been happening to me.

"How did you know?" I asked and he showed me a piece of paper. It wrote "Naotora Ii, you are such a dumb loner in school. Why don't you just go back to where you fucken came from? You are fucking up our community, you stupid slut!" I crinkled the paper up and took the beer bottle away from him.

"I failed as a husband and as a dad. This is all my fault. I'm not fit to be in this position," my dad said, crying in a very drunk way. I shook my head.

"No, it's not your fault, dad. It's the other people's fault," I told him, crying to calm him down, even though I was about to bawl out myself. I gave him a hug. "It's not your fault. Don't ever think that it is because it isn't. You're the best dad anyone can ask for. Please, pull yourself together. I need you to be strong for me." My dad and I just cried like there was no tomorrow.

That night, my mom came to visit me in my dreams. She told me that everything will be okay and to be strong. I didn't know how I could be strong when my life has shattered into pieces and I felt so lost without her.

"I don't know what to do without you," I told her, crying my eyes out. She gave me a hug and I immediately hugged her back. "I miss you so much, mom. Dad misses you too and he's going through a tough time too. I don't know how I'll be able to pull him back up." My mom then smiled.

"Sure you do. You need to pull yourself back up first. Don't let the bullies have their way with you. You must learn to stand up for yourself against them. Play your musical instruments, dance, and sing. It will help you feel more alive. Naotora, you are a strong, talented girl. I couldn't have been more proud of you," my mom said to me as she disappeared and my dream ended.

During school time in the morning, I went through the gate and many people were staring at me and some were gossiping about me, as usual.

"Yeah, that's the girl who's motherless," a girl said to her friends and they stared at me like eagles watching their prey before striking. I kept walking and many people were shouldering me. They were mainly girls though and as they walked past, they called me "motherless" and all those bad words._ Okay, I know I'm motherless. Don't need to shove it back in my face, acting like no one here is motherless._

"Motherless freak," a girl told me, and people began laughing. I was starting to build up my anger because they continued calling me that and because I was still really sad for multiple reasons. _People are so stupid and cruel. They should be cutting me some slack, not bullying me even more just because my mom passed away._ I swear, if one more person calls me motherless, I will seriously hit them. I could no longer hold in the anger deep within myself. I continued walking, but I could feel tears forming in my eyes. I felt really sad that people shoved it in my face and I'm trying to get over that fact but they keep reminding me of what happened.

"Look, it's the girl with no mom," I heard Johnny say, as a rush of vengeful anger came inside me towards Johnny. I could literally feel all the kindness I have ever had disappear and be replaced by anger and hatred. I have had enough of this boy. I turned to him with such hate in my eyes.

"Shut the fuck up! All you people are fucken stupid ass low life cunts. So what if I don't fucken have a mom anymore? Everyone's mom is gonna fucken die one way or another so you keep your bitch ass mouth shut!" I screamed at them angrily, ready to beat the crap out of them. I then remembered how I was looking at the street and saw that guy poke his head out. I turned to Johnny and it was him. He was one of the guys that killed my mom. They made the car accident happen. _Dumb bitch, you are so dead!_ I went to Johnny and began punched his mouth very hard three times and I drop kicked his dumb ass and he fell down hard on the ground. "You stupid bitch! You're the reason why my mom died in the car accident! You fucken murderer!" I was feeling so angry and I couldn't control it. I had no control over what I was doing. I began kicking his stomach with my hard Nikes brand shoe. "Fucken calling me motherless and shit? You fucken made me motherless and yet you fucken dare call me that?" I kicked his stomach again hard and he kinda flew to the locker. I then turned to everyone else. "Anyone fucken have anything so say to me? Say it my fucken face! I fucken dare you!" Nobody would step up and they were just quiet. _Fucken fake bitches be talking hella shit but when I call them out, they pussy out and shit._ "Come on, you all weren't afraid before. Fucken pussy ass bitches. I'm fucken done being nice. Stupid dumb fake asses. You aint hardcore for shit! Fuck, better recognize I will fuck you up." I looked at everyone with hatred and began walking off. When I was going past Johnny, I kicked his hand and stepped on it.

Once I calmed down, I cried to myself. I hated feeling that way. _My life is such a mess right now._ Never in my whole life have I ever used bad language before. Even though it was harsh, it felt kind of great standing up to those bullies. _Maybe I do need to change myself, not just my physical looks. From now on, I'm not gonna tolerate bullying anymore. If fighting is necessary to make them back down, I'll do it. I'm gonna make this school a friendly school no matter what._ I wiped my tears away and I felt much stronger than before.

At home, I began working out and playing my musical instruments. I was also dancing and singing too. My mom was right. Doing these things were helping me out a lot. I was feeling more like myself but stronger. I found myself showing more of my skin too, because when I was working out and dancing, I would wear clothes just like the gym clothing in my school. I wasn't really afraid of showing skin anymore because I got really used to it.

People were beginning to stop bullying me because I would get very aggressive to them and it made them back down. So far, I didn't have to hit anyone. I was wearing loose shorts that went up to an inch under my butt and a loose teen top that was blue cheetah print and it barely covered my stomach. My shoes were a pair of high top converse and I wore all my piercings once again. I actually missed wearing them. My hair was waved today and I used a leather shoulder bag.

As I was walking, Jeirome and his friends walked past me. Laquanda then smacks right into my shoulder and turns to me, as if it was my fault, which it wasn't. She had such a mad face.

"Stupid ass bitch, don't be fucken shouldering me," Laquanda yelled at me. It was so pathetic and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Shut your tranny, Laquanda. You were the one who shouldered me so don't be fucken trying to lie and shit," I replied to her and she got angry at me for calling her Laquanda. She snapped her right finger and stepped up to me.

"Bitch, first of all, my name is Asia and second, you do not fucken call me Laquanda," she began when I interrupted her.

"Laquanda!" I shouted to her and she got so mad.

"Bitch my name is," she began.

"Laquanda!" I yelled again and she was getting even more mad.

"It's fucken," she began

"Laquanda!" I yelled and then the victims of bullying were laughing a lot. Laquanda swung at me but I moved and took off her long straight weave as it came off and her true hair was revealed. It was in two ponytails and they were sticking upwards. Many people began laughing so much and she covered her hair.

"You stupid bitch!" she screamed and ran off, being so embarrassed. I just smiled and stood there. I was waiting to see if any one of them wants to step it up too because I would love to show them what's good.

"So, anyone else? Yeah or nah?" I asked them and they didn't do anything. I laughed once and tossed the weave to Julianne and the end of the hair poked her eyes. I began laughing so much. "Oh poor you, Julianne. Are you like so mad at me? Because if you are, you can tell me." I was mocking her from last time when she said something similar to me. She just stood there with a mad face. I laughed again and walked off.

As I was walking, I noticed many guys and girls following me. They were all the victims of bullying. I knew this because of their vibe. I just smiled at them and they did the same.

"Hi, Naotora, we were just wondering if there was anything we can do for you," a girl said to me. I shook my head.

"It's okay. I don't need anything. I'm just giving bullies a taste of what it's like to be bullied too so they can understand how cruel they've treated us," I told them. They wanted to help me out too and I allowed them to. "You guys should be careful too, okay?" They all smiled and nodded their heads.

Since I stepped up, many bullies began backing down from the rest of us. It was now our turn to take charge of the school. So many people hated me but at the same time, many people respected what I did.

I was walking and saw a group of girls bullying the same two Chinese girls from the first day of school. They were laughing at them because of the way they looked and because they had a very thick accent. I hated how people judge other people even though they don't know them personally. What's worse is that there were two girls who were laughing, but they didn't look like they meant it. They were faking it out.

I began making my way over to them. Once I reached them, I turned the leader girl over. She turned to me with a mad face.

"Bitch, what the fuck?" she said to me.

"You better leave those poor innocent girls alone," I said to her and she laughed, along with her other friends, including the two who were pretending to laugh only. I turned to them and shook my head. "Damn, you two must be afraid of being true to yourself. I know you're faking it out only. You're afraid of being alone so that's why you pretend to laugh, isn't it? You know, it's okay to be real, even if you are gonna be alone. No one should have to be fake just so people will like them." Those two girls then got quiet and stopped laughing. "You should always stay true to yourself."

"Shut up, don't be trying to steal my friends away, you dirty skank," the leader girl told me, pushing me but I didn't even move an inch. I then pushed her too and she fell down.

"I ain't trying to steal them away from you. I'm telling them to be real because they don't need a friend like you. I bet you don't even give a shit about them. People like you disgust me so much. But there's no need to feel that because I'm gonna make this school an anti bully school where people are free to be themselves and everyone respects one another," I told the girl, "I'm just giving you a warning that you better stop bullying others. You leave all your bullshit behind and more people will like you. Simple as that." The girl was just giving me lots of attitude and I smiled and began walking away.

"Thank you help us," one of the Chinese girl said. I turned and they were walking with me. I just smiled. I knew they couldn't talk in English very well.

"Buyong xie," I replied to them and they smiled. I told them that they are welcomed in Chinese. We were just walking together and I was talking to them in Chinese. I learned that their names are Yao Kim Fai and Phoebe. We were finally gonna go our own ways.

"We help stop bully too," Yao Kim Fai told me and I nodded my head. We said our goodbyes and walked off our own ways. I was happy that people are willing to stand up against bullying._ Everything is going good again. Maybe they want the same thing that I want too._

Everywhere I went, people were saying hi to me. I returned the hi to them too. People began to hang out with me as I was walking around. I was walking with other people and we were passing Jeirome and his friends. I saw that Laquanda was wearing another weave. She turned to me and mugged me.

"Dumb bitch," she said to me and I stopped and turned to her. I then laughed.

"Hey guys, don't you think that weave looks better on Laquanda than the original one?" I said to the ones walking around with me. They began laughing at her and Laquanda got very mad. She then turned to me.

"It's Asia, you dumb fuck!" she yelled at me.

"Asia? Psh, more like Africa!" I shot back and she got so mad. We all began laughing more at her and she was so mad that she tried to hit me but I moved and pushed her to Jeirome. He held her so she wouldn't fall. I sighed. "Do you really wanna do this again? Because that weave looks pretty expensive. By the way, what did you do with your original weave? Also, about your two ponytails, do they help you make your weave have more volume?" All the people hanging out with me were laughing so much.

"Argh! I hate this bitch!" shouted Laquanda, as she, Julianne, and Andreiyaa came to me to hit me. I was waiting for them to come hit me. All of a sudden, Yao Kim Fai and Phoebe came from the air. Their right legs were out doing the split and the left foot was bent in. their arms were posed to fight too.

"Hai!" they yelled as they kicked Laquanda as she hit Julianne and Julianne hit Andreiyaa. Everyone began laughing so hard. Yao Kim Fai and Phoebe landed on their foot next to me. Jude accidentally laughed out loud. Laquanda and her two bitches got up and began walking off very pissed off as the guys followed after them. Everyone cheered for Yao Kim Fai and Phoebe. They both smiled. I hugged the both of them.

"I'm proud of you guys!" I said and people threw confetti at us. I stopped hugging them and turned to everyone else. "I'm proud of all of you guys for stepping up to bullies. Let's make this a safe environment school where there is no bullying."

"Yeah!" everyone shouted and we all group hugged each other. _I wish mom was here to see how well I've been doing. Hopefully you're in a better place and hope you're proud of me._

Pretty soon, it was the end of the school year. Most of the bullies are now graduating but there will be new bullies who will need to be put in their place. During the summer, I went to visit my mom's grave and told her everything that's been happening. My dad still drinks but he stops when I tell him to.

During the summer, my dad asked if I wanted to go visit my friends in my old town. I still feel uneasy about what I saw that day so I didn't want to go. He was leaving to do the paperwork for the house because people were buying our house there. Instead of going, I volunteered to help out at the community event. Truthfully, I was hoping that Xun Yu would be there and maybe we can finally be able to have our chance we never got to have because of Jeirome. The event was being held at the lake and it was gonna be hot. I wore a blue booty short with a neon green t shirt with black writings that say "Swag on" that has been cut short up half an inch after the bottom of my chest and I tied my hair into a messy bun. My shoes were a neon black and green high heel Nike shoe. I didn't plan on swimming though and it wasn't a singing event so I was only serving people. All my pierces were worn too.

My dad dropped me off at the lake and I got out and we said our goodbyes before he left. He wasn't coming home until two to three days. I went to the area where all the volunteers were at and I signed in. I grabbed a tray of hot dogs and I scanned my surroundings to see if I could spot Xun Yu. I saw him serving drinks to the elderly people sitting down. He seemed like he was looking for someone too._ Could he be looking for me?_ Our eyes met and a smile appeared on his face. He waved hi to me and I smiled back at him. He quickly finished serving drinks to the people and came over to me.

"Hey, I didn't think I'd see you come to an event anymore. How have you been?" he said. I just smiled.

"No, I've been dealing with a lot of drama so I didn't have time to come to events. I've been good. How about you?" I replied, as we were serving people.

"I've been great. So how are things with Jeirome?" Xun Yu asked me and I laughed it off.

"Well, he doesn't bother me anymore. I've been putting a stop to bullying at school and his friend that's a girl really hates me. Maybe that's why he stopped being a creep. I'm still sorry about getting you beat up.," I replied to him. He shook his head.

"Nah, it's okay. At least he won't bother you anymore. So, does this mean we can, you know, be together again?" Xun Yu asked me and I blushed, feeling shy of him all over again. Before I got to answer him, one of the community leaders called out his name.

"Xun Yu, can we get you to escort this young lady to the restrooms, please?" he said and Xun Yu nodded his head.

"I'll be back," he told me and I smiled. He walked off to the little girl and began taking her to the bathroom. _Xun Yu is such a kind guy. I hope things will work out between us since he's gonna be a sophomore and I'll be a sixth grader._ While I was thinking, a girl tapped me.

"He's cute, isn't he?" she asked, looking at Xun Yu. I turned to her and it was a Chinese girl. I wasn't sure if she was talking about Xun Yu or not.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked and she laughed.

"Xun Yu, of course," she replied to me. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, he is," I told her and she turned to me.

"You know, he's my boyfriend," she told me. I became so shocked and confused. I turned to her, confused.

"You guys are dating? For how long now?" I replied, determined to get some answers.

"Well, we began dating in the beginning of our sophomore year but he dumped me in April," she began. _April? But that's when we began talking! Did he dump her to talk to me or something?_

"So you guys aren't dating anymore then?" I asked her and she shook her head.

"Well, he dumped me in April but he asked for me back the day before Spring break. It was pretty sad because he had a busted up lip and he got a black eye," she told me and I was so shocked._ Oh my god, how can he do this? Why would he do such a thing? If he's taken, why did he as if we could be together again? Is he planning to dump her again to talk to me? What if she's lying?_

"Are you sure you guys are dating?" I asked, suspiciously and she nodded her head. I got the gut feeling that she really wasn't lying to me. She then took out her wallet and showed me a studio picture of the both of them.

"See? We went to take these pictures yesterday," she told me. I looked at the date and it really was yesterday!

"What? But…," I began, but I stopped because I didn't want to tell her anything. It should be Xun Yu to tell her but now I know he was kind of using her so he wouldn't be lonely. If he does that, he'd definitely do that to me. I felt sorry for that girl.

"But what?" she asked and I just laughed.

"Oh, nothing. I think you guys make a cute couple," I told her cheerfully. Because I said that, she didn't ask any more questions. I walked off, feeling bummed out. _How can Xun Yu do that to her? She seems so innocent and sweet like she wasn't even mad when she was talking to me. He should keep talking to her. She'd be better for him. They're in the same grade too._

In a while, he saw me again. He came up to me and smiled.

"Hey, where have you been? I've been looking for you," Xun Yu told me. I had a different feel about him now that I knew he was already taken but yet he was talking to me. I just smiled and turned to him.

"I was serving people. You know, you guys make a cute couple," I told him and he grew surprised.

"How did you know?" he asked me.

"Your girlfriend came to talk to me. She's really nice and innocent. Did you really dump her in April, the month we began talking? Did you really ask for her back the day I said I wouldn't talk to you anymore? She didn't deserve it. Now that I'm here again, are you trying to dump her again to date me?" I asked him.

"Is it such a wrong thing to want a different girl?" Xun Yu asked me.

"It is wrong. She really loves you, you know? You should do the same for her. Don't dump her for me, okay? It's really messed up. If she gives her heart to you, catch it and hold on to it. Don't let it go just because you see someone else you like. It's not right," I told him, and he looked down.

"I'm sorry, Naotora. I don't know what I was thinking. You're right. I'm actually kind of glad you told me this, otherwise I wouldn't have known. Can we still be friends at least?" Xun Yu told me honestly and I knew he was telling the truth. I smiled and nodded my head.

"Yeah, why not?" I replied and he smiled. _Deep inside I was sad but I knew it was for the best. I guess Xun Yu and I aren't meant to be together after all. Why is love so hard? At least I'm making the right decision._ Xun Yu went to his girlfriend and they looked really happy together. I couldn't help but smile because I helped a friend out.

Once eighth grade began, there were lots of bullies again but together with my friends, we put a stop to them by the end of the school year. I finally accomplished what I had hoped to do. The school is officially safe. There are no more bullies and everyone respects one another for being themselves. It made me really happy because I was leaving the school in good hands. I really hoped it would continue to be an anti bully school. While in school, I also joined the volleyball, track, and basketball team.

For graduation, I wore a one sided strap dress that was light red that goes up to half an inch above the middle of my thighs but it gets longer in the back. My hair was waved and I wore light red open toe wedges.

Many people were cheering for us eighth graders as we came out. I looked around and saw my dad, smiling. He had officially stopped drinking and he's returned to his old self. I was really proud of him for that. We all got seated and our principal began to speak.

"Welcome, everyone and thank you for coming to the eighth grade graduation. First of all, I would like to say that this year has been the best year being principal in my fifteen years of teaching. I congratulate you eighth graders for making this far, yet you have four more years of school before college. I am proud of you all," our principal began, as everyone cheered, "Before we begin announcing the names of these graduates, I would like to award these trophies to this year's most athletic guy and girl." He showed everyone two gold trophies of a guy and girl with a ball. Everyone began cheering again. "The most athletic guy this year is Fu Xi and for the girl, Naotora Ii. Please come up and receive these trophies with honor." _Wow, I got the trophy? I wasn't expecting this!_ I got up and began walking to the front as many people cheered super loud.

"Whoo, Naotora!" the crowd yelled. I was just smiling and so was Fu Xi. We got the trophies and had to take a picture with the principal. We shook hands with our principal and went back down to our seats.

"Alright, moving on to the next. This one thousand dollar check is for the eighth grade essay titled 'letter to the students in school' and it was a tough choice because those of you who participated wrote a spectacular essay. I am proud to announce, the winner of this one thousand dollar check is Naotora Ii!" my principal announced. I was really surprised because mines was chosen and I really thought it wouldn't get picked. Everyone boomed with cheers again as I got up to receive the large check. "Congratulations, Naotora." He gave me the check and we shook hands again. "One more thing, I would like to congratulate this young lady with a certificate of leadership and a medal of honor for helping this school become a better place. Thanks to you and the rest of your friends, every student can come to this school without fear of being judged for who they are. Your name will carry on this school's pride. Excellent leadership, Naotora. We teachers and staff are very proud of you." _Gee, I feel so happy I can burst into confetti. Today I am so lucky for receiving all these._ I smiled.

"Thank you very much," I replied to him, as he put the gold medal around my neck. it had my name on it with the words "In honor of leadership". I turned around, smiling and everyone was cheering for me. The loud horns began playing for literally ten seconds as I made my way back to my seat.

"Now it is time to announce our eighth grade graduates!" the principal shouted and even more people cheered. All of us eighth graders were so excited. Our principal then began calling out our names and people were cheering. He said many names before mines.

"Naotora Ii," he said, as everyone cheered and the loud horns played. Suddenly, a burst of fireworks popped in the air and it popped five times. I had the loudest cheer. Many more names were called and finally it was done. "Thank you all for coming and again, congratulations eighth graders." Everyone went wild and we all got up and began walking off to find our family. When I was looking for my dad, a lot of people gave me roses and balloons.

"Congratulations, Naotora!" they all told me and I thanked them. I finally saw my dad looking for me and I went to him. When he saw me, he smiled in a way I have never seen before. He gave me a big hug and I hugged him back.

"I am so proud of you, Naotora. I am a very proud father and your mom would be proud of you too," my dad said.

"Thank you, dad. I am a very proud daughter and I couldn't have asked for a better dad than you," I replied to him, "I love you a lot. Thank you for everything you do for me." He gave me one more hug.

A lot of people continued coming to me and in thirty minutes, people stopped coming so my dad and I walked to the car. We stuffed everything in our car and he began driving off back to our house. A lot of people texted me, asking if I wanted to go to the graduation party but I didn't want to. I just wanted to stay home with my dad and just cook for the both of us as my graduation.

I cooked some crab rangoons and barbecued ribs with some pot stickers. While I was cooking, I was thinking about my mom and how I missed her so much. I began crying to myself softly. _I really wish you were here with us._

"Dad, come eat some food," I told my dad once I finished cooking. He came down and we both sat on the table.

"Thank you, Naotora. It should have been me to cook for you," my dad told me and we both just laughed. I told him it was okay and we began eating. When he ate, he smiled and turned to me. "You cook just like your mom. You have her talents."

"I have your talents too, dad," I replied to him and we continued eating.

The next day, the community leader called and asked me to go to the park to help out. I agreed and when I arrived, it was actually a celebration for me. My friends persuaded them to do a celebration for me because I helped them gain their confidence and their fears at school from the bully. Not only that but also because I stood up for them when no one else did and ended bullying.

"Thanks, you guys. You ended bullying too," I told them and they smiled.

"Yeah, but you took the lead and you helped us end it. You're an inspirational girl," a girl named Jessie told me. I smiled and we all group hugged each other and people took pictures of us doing that. The members of the community came to us.

"Naotora, here is a certificate of anti bullying leader and a medal for ending bullying at school. You inspire many to help make this place better. Thanks to you, we have decided to have a national anti bully day and we would be honored to have you as one of the official members of this town," an elderly member told me, putting the medal over my head and giving me the certificate. As this was happening, the news people were recording what was happening._ Dang, who knew this could happen to me? Everything was so bad at first but now it's going good._

"Thank you so much," I told her, giving her a hug.

"Make a small speech to everyone!" shouted Jared, one of my friends. I smiled and laughed._ Jared, you would say that to me. I guess it won't hurt to make a little speech for them._

"Okay, I'd love to," I replied to him. I turned to everyone. "It takes a group to end bullying, but it takes one person to start it. I want to make this community feel safe and secure of those who judge a book by its cover. All I did was put an end to bullying in my middle school, but there will be many more to come in the near future. I have no fear though, because I know that there will be many people who stand by my side and help me with this too. Overall, what I did shows that it only takes a person to inspire many others to do the right thing. So please, everyone, help me end bullying for once and for all." Everyone began cheering for me and I laughed. I said what was on my mind at that moment.

"You rock, Naotora!" people were shouting. The community had games people can play and all the games had all sorts of people to play it and they have to work together to win big prizes such as a flat screen television, a car, etc. I didn't get to serve food or drinks to people because it was a celebration for me. everyone was having a great time.

"Hey Naotora, go sing for us!" shouted my friends and I laughed. They handed me a microphone and I went up the stage.

"I dedicate the song 'Dance it off' to all you victims of bullying. We're all in this together and we'll find a way out of it no matter what," I began, as the song began playing and everyone was cheering. "I know sometimes this thing call life, it ain't easy but believe me, we're all going through the same old thing, yeah. Under pain, underappreciated, frustrated when things don't turn out the way we play. Play out of my head, out of my head. Oh whoa sometimes I wanna shout. Oh whoa whoa oh, and I'm about to let it out. Leave your problems at the door. Don't you cry anymore. Tonight we're gonna celebrate. When nothing's going your way, you're waiting for the day. Somebody's gonna cut you a break. Dance it off, dance it off, dance it off, dance it off."

"Whoo!" everyone shouted once I finished. I smiled and went down. That day, I had such a great time having that celebration.

Everywhere I went, it was like people knew me. They would always say hi to me, even though I don't know them but I still say hi to them too. When I went to go dye my hair, the manager offered to do it for free. On the top of my hair, I dyed it reddish color. On the middle, it was dark pink and the bottom of my hair was soft light pink. Since my bangs grew a lot longer, I had my hair split in half. When I went shopping, every store I went to gave me ninety percent discount and that day I got to buy a whole lot of clothing and shoes, over two hundred plus. It didn't even fit my walk in closet but I was still very happy.

All was well until two weeks later. My dad and I were home watching some funny movies when the doorbell rang. My dad went to open it and I heard him talking to someone. I got up and went closer to hear.

"Yes, I'm sorry but you have three days to move out. I sold the house to someone else because I was beginning to become broke and I need money to provide care for my kids. I'm sure you would do the same," the manager said. _Are you freaking serious?_ I went to the door and saw the manager.

"But I told you I was gonna buy the house in three days," my dad explained to him, "I'm already finished doing the paperwork and all that. I can just go turn it in and pay you today." The manager shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but I already sold the house and received the money. I'm already using the money and I can't return the money to him anymore. I'm truly sorry about this," he said. I got so mad at him because this was unexpectedly and we don't even have anywhere else to live, meaning we're homeless until my dad gets a new house and is finished with the paperwork.

"Why couldn't you have just waited three days? I'm pretty sure you weren't so broke up to the point where you don't have a single penny and you can still provide food and all that to your family for three days," I told him, and my dad shushed me.

"Naotora, don't," my dad said. I shook my head and walked off. _Stupid manager. The other people probably paid them more so they'll get the house. People can be so greedy sometimes. I don't wanna be homeless!_

We finished packing up in three days time. We had to put our stuff inside the storage rooms until we found a new home. What's worse is that because my dad doesn't have a home, he lost his job. We've been staying in our car for the past two days now and I hate that feeling of not having a home.

My dad and I were walking downtown to go eat out at a restaurant. My dad and a guy accidentally shouldered each other.

"Sorry," they said in unison, turning to each other. They both grew shocked and I didn't understand why.

"Hey, how have you been?" he asked my dad, as they gave each other brotherly hugs. I was confused. _Am I missing something here?_ "So this is where you guys moved."

"Yeah it is. We're doing not so well, I just lost the house I was about to get," my dad replied as the guy turned to me and smiled. I was up to his eyes but my dad was up to his chin. I was taller than my dad now from working out and dancing a lot.

"Hi, you must be Naotora. Wow, you've grown up really fast. You outgrew your dad. It seems like yesterday you and my son were sleeping next to each other when you were a baby," he told me. _What the heck? I don't recall his face. Maybe I was too young to know._ I just smiled politely.

"I take it that you're my dad's friend, right?" I asked him and he nodded his head.

"Yeah, your dad and I were best friends in high school. Now that we're all here, let's go eat out. It'll be my treat," he said and my dad agreed. We went into a restaurant and ordered some food. My dad updated his friend on everything that's happened and he felt sorry for us.

"I'm searching for a house but so far I haven't had any results yet, so I'm just gonna rent a two bedroom apartment for us until I find a house," my dad said to him.

"I have a great idea. I live in a three story and there are a lot of rooms available. Why don't you and your daughter come live with us? It'll give our kids a chance to bond with each other again. Besides, you guys will be able to move back and I'm sure your daughter must miss her old friends there," he told my dad and he shook his head._ My friends didn't even miss me when I was gone. They made a new friend. At least they won't be able to tell it's me since I really did change in two years._

"Oh, no it's okay. I don't want to be a burden. I have no job to help pay for rent," my dad replied politely and the guy just laughed it off.

"You're still as nice as before in our high school years but seriously, you guys can move in with us until you find a job and find a house. I'm leaving back today, so you guys should come," the guy offered. My dad finally agreed to it and I wondered who that baby he was talking about was.

We rented a big truck and put our belongings there. We then began heading back into our old city. _What if I go to the same school as Ina and Okuni? What does it matter? I'm a stronger person. I can take handling that little problem. I'll just make new friends._ While we were on our way, I fell asleep.

Next thing I knew, we arrived at my dad's friends house. I woke up and got out of the car. It was night time and I took a nice stretch and walked to get some stuff. I was wearing a plain red t shirt and a pair of sweat pants with Vans brand shoes. I rubbed my eyes a few times softly and yawned. My dad and his friend already went inside to put some stuff away. I tried to grab my suitcase but it was a bit too far.

"Oh come on, you stupid suitcase. Why do you have to be so far away?" I said to myself, reaching out my hands to grab the suitcase.

"You need help with that?" a guy's voice said from behind.

"Sure, thanks," I replied to the person. I stopped reaching for my suitcase and turned around. Once I saw who it was, I gasped and covered my mouth with wide eyes.


End file.
